Register      Login
Journal of Primary Health Care Journal of Primary Health Care Society
Journal of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Will topical NSAIDs help with chronic musculoskeletal pain?

Vanessa Jordan
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

Correspondence to: Vanessa Jordan, New Zealand Cochrane Fellow, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Email: Vanessa Jordan v.jordan@auckland.ac.nz

Journal of Primary Health Care 8(2) 179-179 https://doi.org/10.1071/HC15904
Published: 30 June 2016

Journal Compilation © Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners 2016.
This is an open access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Cochrane review: Derry S, Conaghan P, Da Silva JAP, Wiffen PJ, Moore RA. Topical NSAIDs for chronic musculoskeletal pain in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2016, Issue 4.

The Problem: Chronic musculoskeletal pain affects many people. The most common condition causing chronic musculoskeletal pain is osteoarthritis. NSAIDs as a gel or solution applied directly to the site is recommended as a potential form of pain relief.1 However, the effectiveness of these topical treatments has often been questioned. Studies have shown that a placebo gel or solution often has similar effects to that of the NSAID. This is thought to be due to a bio-lubrication mechanism.2 This Cochrane review was designed to answer the question as to whether topical NSAIDS really do help with superficial musculoskeletal pain.

Clinical Bottom Line: This Cochrane review showed that topical NSAIDs did reduce pain by more than 50% in significantly more participants than placebo treatments.3 The placebo effect was very strong with half the participants in the placebo group reporting significantly reduced pain. Dry skin was reported by some participants but there were no serious systemic adverse events reported.3



Click to zoom



References

[1]  NICE clinical guidelines, Osteoarthritis. Care and management in adults. 2014. 177.

[2]  Conaghan PG, , et al. Drug-free gel containing ultra-deformable phospholipid vesicles (TDT 064) as topical therapy for the treatment of pain associated with osteoarthritis: a review of clinical efficacy and safety. Curr Med Res Opin 2014; 30 599–611.
Drug-free gel containing ultra-deformable phospholipid vesicles (TDT 064) as topical therapy for the treatment of pain associated with osteoarthritis: a review of clinical efficacy and safety.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

[3]  Derry S, et al. Topical NSAIDs for chronic musculoskeletal pain in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2016(4).