NSAIDs usage may increase the odds of developing chronic pain by impairing natural recovery processes on acute pain episodes

*ALWAYS GO TO A MEDICAL CONSULTATION BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES IN YOUR DRUG USE.

My back hurts a lot from sitting all day… Do I take an Ibuprofen or a Paracetamol pill? Parisien et al. suggest not to take the decision lightly.

By consulting a biomedical database, this research group observed that the use of NSAIDs, such as Ibuprofen or Diclofenac, at the beginning of an episode of low back pain almost doubles the odds that the episode of pain will become chronic. Neither Paracetamol nor antidepressants have a similar effect, so… why would NSAIDs not be helping to heal?

Parisien et al., suggest that in order to heal the painful episode, an initial inflammatory reaction must be induced and, if this reaction is interrupted in some way, it is very likely that the painful episode will become chronic.

And, indeed, they observe that this reaction is impaired by the use of NSAIDs and not by the use of analgesics (such as Lidocaine and Morphine), prolonging the painful symptoms.

The authors suggest evaluating the effect of anti-inflammatory drugs in treatments for low back pain and other painful conditions.

Authors

Marc Parisien, Lucas V. Lima, Concetta Dagostino, Nehme El-Hachem, Gillian L. Drury, Andrew V. Grant, Jonathan Huising, Vivek Verma, Carolina B. Meloto, Jacqueline R. Silva, Gabrielle G.S. Dutra, Teodora Markova, Hong Dang, Philippe A. Tessier, Gary D. Slade, Andrea G. Nacley, Nader Ghasemlou, Jeffrey S. Mogil, Massimo Allegri and Luda Diatchenko.