Patients treated with an epidural steroid injection for back pain relief are at increased risk of bone fractures in the spine, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.

Researchers say the risk of fracture increased 29 percent with each steroid injection, a finding they believe raises patient safety concerns.

“For a patient population already at risk for bone fractures, steroid injections carry a greater risk that previously thought and actually pose a hazard to the bone,” says Shlomo Mandel, M.D., a Henry Ford orthopedic physician and the study’s lead author.