For relief of lower back pain, steroid shots are great–for a while, but just for a while. A new study from researchers at Paris Descartes University has found that a single steroid injection eased pain for one month. Yes, just one month. As HealthDay reports, effectiveness waned after only a month, and after a year there was no difference in pain felt by people who did or did not get a steroid shot. The researchers worked with patients who had suffered from chronic lower back pain for an average of six years, and who had signs of disc inflammation on an MRI. Half were given a single steroid shot; the other half got no injection. The researchers found that one month after treatment, 55 percent of those who got the steroid injection experienced less lower back pain, compared with 33 percent of those who weren’t treated, but after a full year, there was no difference. Hmm, what to do?