For patients with non-low back, musculoskeletal injuries, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) should be a first-line treatment for acute pain that lasts no more than four weeks, according to a new guideline from the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Topical NSAIDs with or without methanol gel were recommended in the guidelines, which were based on the latest evidence about benefits and harms, the American Pharmacists Association reported on its website.
Patients will experience improved physical function and treatment satisfaction in addition to improving pain by using the topical NSAIDs, according to data the organization collected.
Other recommendations listed in the guideline, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, included using oral acetaminophen to ease pain or oral NSAIDs to improve physical function and pain; specific acupressure also to improve pain and physical function or using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation to ease pain; treating that pain with opioids such as tramadol.
Noninvasive treatment of low back pain was not addressed in the guideline.
More than 200 trials with approximately 33,000 patients studied in a network meta-analysis led to the recommendations by using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation methodology.
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