Heavy painkillers don't help for neck, back pain: study

Heavy painkillers like oxycodone don’t work for back and neck pain. In fact, they have a negative impact on patients’ health due to their addictive nature and severe side effects, according to a study by the University of Sydney in Australia and Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, AD reports.

The researchers investigated the effect of heavy painkillers on about 350 patients who recently started getting back and neck pain. One group received an opiate, the other a placebo. After six weeks, both groups had the same amount of pain. After a year, the opioid users were even worse off than the placebo users. A third of opioid users experienced at least one side effect like nausea or constipation.

According to researcher Bart Koes, about a million people in the Netherlands have back and neck problems and some use heavy painkillers to treat them. “Opioids really do nothing more than a placebo. So our main message is that doctors should be reluctant to prescribe such drugs for these pain complaints.”

Patients can benefit much more from good information, Koes said. “We advise people with back and neck problems to continue their daily activities, such as cycling, walking, or swimming, as much as possible and possibly go to a physiotherapist. That gives a lot of relief.”

The researchers also urged for the guidelines on opioid use for musculoskeletal pain to be amended to advise against the use of heavy painkillers. GPs are better off prescribing paracetamol, Koes said. “That, too, may not be much more effective than a placebo, but the side effects are at least more favorable than with opiates.”