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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)

String of PEARLS

Anne Buckley
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Medical Editor, for the Cochrane Primary Care Field

Journal of Primary Health Care 8(3) 278-278 https://doi.org/10.1071/HC15910
Published: 27 September 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.

Practical Evidence About Real Life Situations

About Pain

PEARLS are succinct summaries of Cochrane Systematic Reviews for primary care practitioners—developed by Prof. Brian McAvoy for the Cochrane Primary Care Field (www.cochraneprimarycare.org), New Zealand Branch of the Australasian Cochrane Centre at the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Auckland (www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa), funded by the Ministry of Health (www.health.govt.nz), and published in NZ Doctor (www.nzdoctor.co.nz.).

  • Limited benefit from NSAIDs for chronic low back pain

  • Over-the-counter analgesics effective for acute postoperative pain

  • Topical NSAIDs effective for acute musculoskeletal pain

  • Topical rubefacients ineffective for musculoskeletal pain

  • No evidence for efficacy of NSAIDs for neuropathic pain

  • Herbal medicines of some benefit for low back pain

  • Caffeine effective as an analgesic adjuvant

Disclaimer : PEARLS are for educational use only and are not meant to guide clinical activity, nor are they a clinical guideline.