According to a study, to relieve acute lower back pain, paracetamol is no more effective than a placebo. Anyway, during severe pain, this analgesic alone is not enough.
Paracetamol, the most widely used treatment for low back pain, is no more effective than a placebo. In any case, this is what a study published Thursday in the scientific journal claims. Tea Lancet. And according to the scientists at the University of Sydney (Australia) behind this publication, the consequences should be drawn in everyday practice.
Check the effectiveness of paracetamol
Because low back pain, pain in the lumbar region, is the leading cause of disability in the world. To relieve patients, for a long time and unanimously, paracetamol has been considered the first line treatment. But no study has confirmed its effectiveness, noted its authors.
In this context, they recruited 1,652 people suffering from lower back pain. A first group took paracetamol in regular doses – 3 doses per day for a month, with a maximum of 3,990 mg -, a second received the drug when it was necessary – with a daily maximum of 4,000 mg -, a third had access to a placebo. In addition to this pharmacological treatment, the researchers provided advice to the participants, tried to comfort them.
No effect on pain
And the results collected were final. After three months, the team compared the state of health of the patients in the different groups, as well as their adherence to treatment. On average, they were in moderation and took only 2,660 mg per day. But the time it takes for the pain to subside doesn’t really vary depending on whether participants are taking a placebo or paracetamol: 16 days in the first case, 17 in the second. While the active medication did not help relieve pain, it also did not improve quality of life, sleep, or daily functioning. A real cold shower for paracetamol enthusiasts.
Paracetamol not useful at the end of the episode
Contacted by the editorial staff of why actor, Professor François Rannou, rheumatologist at Cochin hospital (14th arrondissement), however, believes that there is “a problem” in this study which deals with acute low back pain. “When we look at the study population, we see that, on average, these are people who had been in pain for ten days or so. However, in general, acute low back pain episodes last a few days. So, I would have liked to know on “Day 0” (as soon as people are in pain) how effective paracetamol would have been. It is the daily practice. Because someone who has lumbago is not going to take an analgesic 10 days later. “And this specialist adds that” sI think, we can even say that these are people who did not need painkillers. They took people who were probably at the end of the episode. And in this situation, the patient no longer needs paracetamol. “
In severe pain, paracetamol alone is not enough
Finally, Prof. François Rannou indicates that the content of the usual recommendations for low back pain should not be modified on the basis of a single study. Even if this rheumatologist wishes to point out that paracetamol does not work too well in the intense pains of acute low back pain. “For these patients, paracetamol is given instead with codeine or Ixprim (analgesic containing an opiate). That is to say paracetamol plus one molecule. And there, it relieves the pain, ”he concludes.
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