NSAIDS summary

Working in Partnership
Musculoskeletal Bulletin
NSAIDs for Acute Low Back Pain
Reference:
Van der Gaag, WH. Roelofs, PDDM. Enthoven, WTM.
Van Tulder, MW. Koes, BW (2020). Non-steroidal antiinflammatory
drugs for acute low back pain (review).
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 4. Art.
No: CD013581. DOI: 10.1002/14651858. CD013581.
Research
Informing
Practice
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are often prescribed for
low back pain.
This is an update of an earlier Cochrane Review (2008) about the
efficacy of NSAIDs for low back pain.
There is moderate quality evidence that NSAIDs are slightly more
effective than placebos for reducing short‐term pain, and high‐quality
evidence that they are slightly more effective than placebos for
reducing disability in acute low back pain. The magnitude of the
effect(s) is very small.
Key Points
NSAIDs are often prescribed for acute low back pain.
NSAIDs seemed slightly more effective than placebos for short-term pain reduction.
NSAIDs seemed slightly more effective than placebos for disability and global
improvement.
The magnitude of these effects is small and probably not clinically significant.
There was no clear difference in pain reduction when comparing selective COX-2
inhibitors to non-selective NSAIDs.
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