Does Ibuprofen Help With Back Pain?
Well in short, no. One of the things we see in the clinic is patients with back pain or other aches and pains that are popping these sorts of medications multiple times a day. More often than not, when asked if the ibuprofen is helping with the back pain, the answer is either “I’m not sure” or “No, not really”. This might sound familiar? Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide. And this problem is commonly managed by prescribing anti-inflammatories (that don’t work).
There are a number of reasons why they are, in our opinion, not helpful. In this video and the rest of the article we will talk a little more about ibuprofen, and other anti-inflammatories or painkillers and why using them may be doing more harm than good.
Why Are We Still Taking Ibuprofen For Back Pain Then?
That’s just what you’re supposed to do. Well, most people have been conditioned to go straight for the anti-inflammatories if they have pain. Research conducted and published in the British Medical Journal reviewed 35 separate studies and over 6,000 patients to find that:
“No simple analgesics provide clinically important effects for spinal pain over placebo.”
What that means is that there is no point taking them, but that’s not all. It is actually worse to take them. Patients taking anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen are 2.5 times more likely to suffer from gastrointestinal problems such a stomach ulcers and bleeding. A while ago we wrote an article that explored this topic in more detail, you can read this here, and find the published research we referred to here. The article compared the risk of dying in a car accident (1 in 20,000) with the risk of bleeding to death from long term non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use (1 in 1,000).
With the evidence of such negative side effects and risks of taking these medications, knowing they don’t work, you really shouldn’t be taking them!
What Can You Do For Back Pain?
There are in fact many treatments, for example, at The Mayfair Clinic, that can really help ease back pain. The reason the treatment we do at the clinic works is simple. We work tirelessly to get to the bottom of the problem. We then provide the correct treatment and recommendations to make sure it is resolved in the best possible way. It’s not just the technology we have that is the best available, we have an exceptional understanding of the human spine and the way it works.
Treatment with us at The Mayfair Clinic gives you an option to not just reduce pain, but address the problem. And in recent times we are finding patients are becoming more and more fed-up with pain killers or procedures that just numb the brain to the pain. They want something that is actually helping them heal.
If you want to learn more about our unique approach to understanding the cause of your back pain then visit our new patients page here. Unlike a 10 minute visit to your GP, we have the time to go through your case in much more detail, refer out for any necessary imaging & get you on the right track very quickly. When you compare the wait time for your GP appointment, perhaps a week or more, and then picking up the prescription in a few days more, sometimes longer, a week or two may have passed and you’re still none the wiser. For our patients we are able to see them sometimes on the same day, begin some treatment, have any imaging done, and go through the results all within 48 hours! Meaning by the time a week or two has gone by, you’ll be well on the road to recovery without the need for these painkillers. What’s more, you’ll actually leave the clinic understanding what is causing your back pain & more importantly, how to stop it getting worse & what to do to make it better!
Join Today
It couldn’t be easier to start your online back pain program today. Click the button below and on the next page you can sign up straight away.
Pain Relief Vs Healing
Which is better? Well, you may not have ever thought about what happens when you take a pain killer. Generally, it will “numb the pain” now, if you’ve just been hit by a car, the car will not hit you again, so numbing the pain will be helpful. The problem is that a lot of people have complex causative factors behind their back pain, such as their posture or repetitive stresses. In these cases, the cause of the damage & pain is not removed. Taking pain killers, on the odd chance they do numb the pain, allows you to continue doing the things that damaged your back in the first place. Unfortunately, this is why so many people become chronic.
What works better for stopping things like back pain, is a positive treatment that is targeted at the damaged tissue. We then work to mitigate all the risk factors and rehabilitate you properly so the chances of the problem returning are as low as possible.
If you are tired of using medications like ibuprofen that have numerous risks, and do nothing to fix the underlying injury, then use the contact form below to get in touch and we will do all we can to help. For more of our latest articles and updates, click the link here.
Contact Us.
Email Us
info@themayfairclinic.com
Call Us
0203 947 32 22
Clinic Address
4 Cavendish Square, London, W1g 0PG.