Lower Back Pain Treatment
A 31-year-old woman comes to the clinic with low back pain. She reports pain as sharp, burning and tingling. The pain was a result of work injury while he lifted a heavy box. I chose ibuprofen as the firth line therapy.
o Would you prescribe any medications at this point? Why or why not? If so, what? IBUPROFEN
o What would be the choice for second-line therapy?
o What are the parameters for monitoring success of the therapy?
o Discuss specific patient education based on the prescribed therapy.
o List one or two adverse reactions for the selected agent that would cause you to change therapy.
o What would be the choice for second-line therapy?
o What lifestyle changes would you recommend for this patient, in addition to medication?
o Describe one or two drug–drug or drug–food interactions for the selected agent.
Low Back Pain Treatment
Student’s Name
Institution
Low back pain (LBP) is slowly becoming a major global health issue. According to Shipton (2018), it accounts for over 50 million of all years lived with disability. Thus, it is important to address the issue through the use of effective pharmacological interventions. This paper examines the treatment of a 31-year-old woman experiencing LBP as a result of a work injury.
I would prescribe ibuprofen as the first-line therapy. Ibuprofen is a non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), and according to Friedman et al. (2020), NSAIDs are the best first-line therapies for LBP. They have high efficacy rates. Further, among all NSAIDs, ibuprofen is considered to be the safest because of its relatively low side effects incidence (Hung et al., 2018). Thus, it is a widely used NSAID for treating LBP.
I would prescribe tramadol as the second-line therapy. Evidence shows that tramadol, as a second-line therapy, reduces pain and improves function among patients with LBP (McCarthy, 2017; Qaseem et al., 2017). However, I would first weigh the benefits of using tramadol against the risk based on the patient’s history and pain intensity because tramadol is an opioid, and there is a risk of addiction. I would closely monitor the patient while administering tramadol.
To monitor the success of ibuprofen in treating LBP, I would ask the patient to rate their pain on a scale of 1 to 10 before and after they start taking ibuprofen. According to Ngo and Bajaj (2021), the effects of ibuprofen in pain reduction can be felt after the first 24 hours of drug administration. Thus, I would monitor pain intensity to establish the success of ibuprofen. If the pain after the first 24 hours remains the same or increases in intensity, then I would know that ibuprofen is ineffective in that particular case.
Specific patient education would involve informing the patient about the need to adhere to pharmacological intervention. They should not take more pain medication than prescribed. Also, I would discuss with them the nature of LBP and advise them to avoid bending, twisting, and bed rest. I would discuss with them the importance of staying active and returning to normal activities soon. According to Friedman et al. (2020), patient education on stretching and staying active can help relieve pain and prevent recurrence of LBP in the future.
While ibuprof...