Role of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in Management of Acute Low Back Pain

Low back pain is extremely prevalent, it is the most common presenting complaint in neurosurgery clinic. Regardless of the underlying cause, organic or inorganic low back pain has it's financial impact on patients , hospitals ,and work resources. This study was designed to discuss causes of low back pain, address the effectiveness of different Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Medications on acute low back pain, regardless of the underlying aetiology, assess paracetamol and muscle relaxants effect compared to NSAID, and discuss cost-benefit effect of different medications used in LBP. Patients prescribed with diclofenac 150 mg, celecoxib 200 mg, Etoricoxib 90 mg, or combination of Paracetamol 1500mg + Chlorzoxazone 1500mg, "daily" for acute low back pain at Neurosurgery Outpatients Department, were enrolled in this study. The decrease in pain scores was recorded on 5th and 10th days of follow-up and pain scores were calculated. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis. All medications used in this study were equally successful in short term symptom relief and dramatically reducing pain, and no drug was found to be superior. This clearly indicates equal effectiveness of medications used and homogenously and carefully selected study sample. Keywords: low back pain, non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAID).