Table 3.

 Women's answers to pain questionnaire according to allocation to epidural analgesia or other method of pain relief during labour. Figures are numbers of women

	Epidural (n=151)	Non-epidural (n=155)
Experienced back pain	115	112
Pain began during pregnancy	87	83
Pain began after delivery (time):
Shortly after	14	12
1-2 months	2	1
2-4 months	4	2
6-12 months	0	1
12-18 months	0	1
18-24 months	0	1
>2 years	1	0
Some other time	7	11
Pain lasted >1 year	47	64
Still experiencing pain now	64	70
Pain in past week	46	47
Last episode of pain:
Very bad/unbearable	17	13
Moderate/quite bad	67	67
Little pain	30	25
No reply	1	7
Most common site of pain:
Lumbar/upper sacral region	90	76
Multiple areas	19	20
Other areas	4	11
Site not specified	2	5
Pain alters during menstruation	26	25