Muscle relaxants as alternative analgesics in the treatment of nonspecific back pain

Abstract

Only 50% of patients treated for back pain achieve effective relief. This is to some extent due to physicians' insufficient knowledge about the therapeutic strategies recommended in most expert guidelines. The widespread administration of muscle relaxants is traditional in clinical practice because of their high efficacy and long-term experience with their use in different categories of patients. Muscle relaxants are presented in the majority of the current clinical guidelines; their use is indicated when simple analgesics (paracetamol), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or combined and opioid analgesics do not provide sufficient analgesia. Muscle relaxants are characterized by a considerable analgesic effect in the short-term treatment of acute low back pain. It is noted that there is a need for a more thorough analysis of the therapeutic effects of muscle relaxants in patients with common pain syndromes.

Keywords

• low back pain
• muscle relaxants
• tolperisone hydrochloride