Anti-inflammatory Drugs May Lead to Chronic Pain- New Study Suggests

Health

Using anti-inflammatory medications like steroids or ibuprofen may relieve pain in the short-term setting, but a new study suggests this may lead to chronic pain.

Anti-inflammatory Drugs May Lead to Chronic Pain- New Study Suggests

Overview

Research published in the journal Science Translational Medicine led by clinicians at McGill University in Canada suggests that it may be time to re-examine how pain is treated in the short term and how that translates to long-term pain.

Body’s natural response to injury- Inflammation

After an injury, inflammation starts to increase throughout the body. This is the body’s natural response to infection or injury, and as inflammation increases, the person may feel pain in stronger amounts. However, blocking these natural inflammation pathways may result in possible long-term and chronic consequences.

Inflammation is intentional and necessary. There is already evidence that if you block the body’s inflammation that it disrupts wound healing, so it’s possible that you shouldn’t be blocking something that the body is trying to do for a reason.

Research findings

The researchers examined patients and mice with lower back pain for three months on a physical and cellular level.

Many people who experience pain take anti-inflammatory medications like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or steroids to help resolve their pain. However, while some people will fully resolve their pain, others will translate this into chronic pain.

The researchers examined 98 patients over three months and found that a particular cell in the body called neutrophils was a key player in the pain response pathway.

They discovered that while blocking these neutrophils may help reduce pain in the short term, in mice, blocking them can prolong the pain for up to 10 times longer. Similarly, patients who had elevated levels of neutrophils — those without having these cells reduced by medications — had protective findings against translating acute into chronic pain.

The researchers also said that other studies had supported their findings as well. An analysis in the United Kingdom that included about 500,000 individuals found that people who took anti-inflammatory medications experienced long-term chronic pain for the next two to 10 years.

“There are multiple studies of evidence that are pointing in the same direction, each of them compensating for the flaws of the other, and this is all part of a bigger story in understanding chronic pain,” noted the researchers.

In patients with chronic back pain, the association between NSAID use and the persistence of pain is a little more than suggestive, but it is significant and means that it is worth our time to better controlled studies to see if this is truly the case.

Guidelines from the American Academy of Family Physicians suggest that instead of initially turning to medications to treat pain, using heat, massages, or physical therapy should be the first step. If those don’t work, medications like anti-inflammatories or other analgesics like acetaminophen can assist.(source)

Whenever any pain medication is prescribed, It is important to always ask what are the side effects of this medication if used too much? And how long is it safe to use the medication, and when should the usage be stopped?”

Further research needed

Scientists continue to investigate and answer questions about pain both at acute and chronic levels. Pain affects almost everyone and understanding how it works and how to treat it is important.

While this data is compelling, the researchers agree that more randomized and controlled studies need to be performed before there is a complete shift in how to treat pain.