Paraceamol – a pain reliever drug given to people with pains in the lumbar and sacral area of the spine is not more effective than a placebo, reports Lancet ‘.
Lower back pain is a problem for millions of people worldwide (for example, in the UK about 44% of the population suffer from it). This is one of the most common ailments.
Most often, no specific cause of pain can be found. Although imaging tests sometimes reveal degenerative changes, they are not always painful.
The largest study to date has shown that the officially recommended paracetamol for back pain does not reduce pain or reduce its duration more effectively than placebo. Its use as a primary drug does not seem to make much sense. It is likely that the mechanism of pains in the lumbar spine differs from toothaches, headaches or postoperative pain, where the effectiveness of paracetamol has been clinically proven.
The study, led by Dr. Christopher Williams of the University of Sydney, included 1 patients from Australian health care facilities who had suffered from lower back pain for six weeks or less. The patients were divided into three groups. The first took paracetamol systematically, the second – in case of pain, the third took tablets for a month only resembling paracetamol.
Taking paracetamol did not reduce the severity of pain or improve sleep quality. In all three groups, symptoms resolved after the same time – an average of 17 days.
Experts do not advise patients to discontinue paracetamol without consulting a doctor, because anti-inflammatory drugs that may be an alternative have significant side effects. As pointed out by Dr. Andrew Moore of Churchill Hospital in Oxford, who spoke for the BBC, paracetamol does not help everyone and not all types of pain. One of the authors of the research, prof. Christine Lin recommends people with back pain to be as active as possible and avoid bed rest (PAP)