The Faculty Comments on the Recent Meta-Analysis on NSAIDS

The recent meta-analysis[1] widely reported today[2,3] suggests that Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), as with Paracetamol reviewed before, have a limited benefit that may not be clinically significant for spinal pain.  Given the recent NICE guidelines supporting the use of NSAIDs as first line medication there may be a fairly high level of analgesic failure.  It is important to recognise that this analyses assessed these medications as single drug vs. placebo, and that the value of multimodel therapies cannot be inferred from such trials.

[1] doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-210597

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/03/back-pain-medications-have-little-benefit-and-may-cause-harm-research

[3] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-4187180/Gains-treating-pain-pills-outweighed-effects-study-finds.html