Double blind study found Paracetamol (acetaminophen) at average dose of 3500 mg/day in week 1 and 2800 mg/day in week 2 for the regular group was not better than placebo. It had `no eff ect on pain, disability, function, global symptom change, sleep, or quality of life.`
Efficacy of paracetamol for acute low-back pain: a double-blind, randomised controlled trial
Christopher M Williams, Christopher G Maher, Jane Latimer, Andrew J McLachlan, Mark J Hancock, Richard O Day, Chung-Wei Christine Lin
Lancet 2014 in press
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25064594
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regular group (550 analysed), 549 were assigned to the as-needed group (546 analysed), and 553 were assigned to the placebo group
- No effect
Comment – no wonder people end up with liver damage taking acetaminophen for pain – any significant pain, like acute back pain – it doesn’t work and people may be tempted to take too much. I wonder how many damaged livers have come out of the war against opioids…
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