The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society
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The prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study design is essential in the interventional spine literature to truly evaluate whether or not a procedure is effective. ⋯ The prospective, double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trials in the interventional spine literature demonstrate efficacy from several different procedures when properly performed on appropriate patients. Other procedures have been shown to lack efficacy, while inconclusive evidence exists from multiple other interventional spine procedures. Further details are discussed in the text.