A new study in the July 23, 2014 issue of the medical journal The Lancet says that in patients with acute back pain, the use of acetaminophen was no more effective than a placebo, with similar recovery times. It also didn't matter if the drug was taken on a regular basis or as needed.
According to Christopher M. Williams, PhD, of the University of Sydney in Australia, and colleagues, the median time for recovery was 17 days for patients taking acetaminophen on a regular basis, 17 days for patients taking it on an as needed basis and only16 days for patients receiving a placebo.
For the study, they enrolled 1,643 patients from 235 centers in Australia in a trial, randomizing them to a regular-treatment group instructed to take the drug three times per day; an as-needed group; or to placebo.
The medication could be taken for up to 4 weeks or until recovery, and recovery was defined as beginning on the first day when pain scores were 0 or 1 and persisting for at least a week.
"Guidelines for acute low-back pain universally recommend [acetaminophen] as the first-line analgesic," the study observed, but noted that there is little evidence to support this recommendation.
They went on to conclude, "Our results convey the need to reconsider the universal endorsement of [acetaminophen] in clinical practice guidelines as first-line care for low-back pain," they observed.