Paracetamol Drugs Do Not Relieve Lower Pain: Study

Taking paracetamol does not help in alleviating back pain, according to a study.

Paracetamol is the most popular over-the-counter analgesic drug consumed to relieve body pain, headaches and discomfort caused by cold and fever. But experts from the University of Sydney in Australia found these drugs act like placebos and have no effect in reducing the severity of lower back pain. Their study involved 1,652 people living in Sydney who either received the drug or were placed on a placebo thrice daily for almost four weeks. The participants' back pain and recovery status were followed for nearly three months, reports the Reuters.

The researchers noted no differences in time taken to recover from chronic back pain between subjects who took paracetamol and the control group. In addition, all participants reportedly did not experience any drastic changes like pain relief, improvements in sleep quality, disability and quality of life after taking medications.  These findings dispute the current practice of prescribing paracetamol as an effective pain killer medication. However, the current trial did not accurately examine how giving paracetamol could not minimize pain symptoms.

According to the data by the American Chiropractic Association, over 31 million Americans experience low-back pain at any given time in their life. The condition is the single leading cause of disability in people around that world that affects their work productivity and overall well-being.

"While we have shown that paracetamol does not speed recovery from acute back pain, there is evidence that paracetamol works to relieve pain for a range of other conditions, such as headaches, some acute musculoskeletal conditions, tooth ache and for pain straight after surgery," said Christine Lin, study co-researcher and an associate professor at the George Institute for Global Health and the University of Sydney, reports Reuters News.

"What this study indicates is that the mechanisms of back pain are likely to be different from other pain conditions, and this is an area that we need to study more," she adds.

More information is available online in the journal Lancet.