NSAIDs clinically ineffective for back pain

NSAIDs have little clinical benefit in back and neck pain, and millions of Australians are taking them unnecessarily, according to the authors of a systematic review.

The meta-analysis of 35 clinical trials found that NSAIDs had some efficacy against spinal pain but the benefits were not great enough to be considered clinically important

“Our results show anti-inflammatory drugs actually only provide very limited short-term pain relief. They do reduce the level of pain, but only very slightly, and arguably not of any clinical significance,” says lead author Associate Professor Manuela