Ibuprofen warning as short-term use 'may actually make pain worse'
dailyrecord.co.ukShort-term use of pills such as ibuprofen could increase the possibility of developing chronic pain, new research suggests.
Experts have warned certain drugs, including steroids, may actually leave people in agony for longer.The small study's findings challenge the typical methods for pain relief and indicate that it could be time to reconsider how it is treated.
Normal recovery from an injury involves inflammation – the body's natural reaction to injury and infection – and new research indicates blocking inflammation with drugs could lead to harder-to-treat pain.
It may be that inflammation has a protective effect, and overly reducing it may be harmful.In other words, inflammation may prevent acute pain from turning into chronic pain.Jeffrey Mogil, a professor of pain studies at McGill University in Canada, said: "For many decades it's been standard medical practice to treat pain with anti-inflammatory drugs."But we found that this short-term fix could lead to longer-term problems."He told the PA news agency: "While ibuprofen was not studied explicitly in either the human or the mouse data (in the mouse we used diclofenac), as ibuprofen is so common in the UK, it is highly likely that a large percentage of those in the UK Biobank who reported taking 'NSAIDs' (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) were in fact taking ibuprofen."Researchers said low back pain was the most commonly reported form of chronic pain – pain that persists for longer than would be expected after the injury – and resulted in massive economic and medical costs each year.Most patients receive standard treatments such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, and corticosteroids.But these drugs are only somewhat effective, and
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