Now the drugs don't work...

for low back pain.  Actually they do but not very much.   Hot on the heels of the Cochrane review demonstrating the lack of efficacy of paracetamol for low back pain the BMJ journal 'Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases' has published a systematic review with meta-analysis (a review of all of the papers out there and a combination and  synthesis of the results) of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatories for spinal pain and has found that although there is some limited demonstrated effectiveness it is not enough to be considered clinically important.  They also found that use of NSAIDs increased the likelihood of gastrointestinal reactions 2.5 times.  

I take ibuprofen when I need it, it is a very useful anti-inflammatory and painkiller so am in no way suggesting that these drugs are useless, but it is interesting to read these results and indeed the findings of the authors that 'At present, there are no simple analgesics that provide clinically important effects for spinal pain over placebo'.  

Read the abstract here http://ard.bmj.com/content/early/2017/01/20/annrheumdis-2016-210597​

Back to the SIJ next time - it's taking ages to read, digest and formulate an opinion on the information but I am finding it really interesting.

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