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Home Industry News Common drugs ‘provide few benefits for people with back pain’

Common drugs ‘provide few benefits for people with back pain’

3rd February 2017

Many of the drugs that are commonly used to treat back pain may actually be having a limited effect, according to new research.

Conducted by the George Institute for Global Health, the study examined data from 35 trials involving more than 6,000 people in order to assess whether non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin and ibuprofen offer benefits for people with back pain.

It was found that only one in six patients treated with these pills achieved any significant reduction in pain, while at the same time increasing patients' risk of various side effects.

Patients taking anti-inflammatories were shown to be 2.5 times more likely to suffer from gastrointestinal problems, such as stomach ulcers and bleeding, showing the drugs may in fact be doing more harm than good.

Manuela Ferreira, an associate professor at the George Institute and the Institute of Bone and Joint Research, said: "Our results show anti-inflammatory drugs actually only provide very limited short-term pain relief. They do reduce the level of pain, but only very slightly, and arguably not of any clinical significance."

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