Do epidurals cause back pain?

Abstract

Postpartum back pain may occur in up to 44% of women after childbirth. The increasing use of epidural analgesia during labour over the past 35 years has led many women and some doctors to attribute postpartum back pain to this. Such suggestions, if unfounded, may undermine parturients' confidence in epidural analgesia. However, the outcome of recent, randomized studies clearly shows that epidural analgesia does not cause back pain.