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Research News

NSAIDs offer little benefit for spinal pain, review finds

BMJ 2017; 356 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j605 (Published 06 February 2017) Cite this as: BMJ 2017;356:j605
  1. Anne Gulland
  1. London

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen offer little more clinical benefit to patients with spinal pain than a placebo, a systematic review and meta-analysis has found.

The review of 35 randomised placebo controlled trials involving 6065 people, published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases,1 found that NSAIDs did provide some relief from pain and disability but found little evidence that they were more effective than placebo. Researchers found that, in every six patients treated …

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