Photo Credit: Fizkes
Long-term use of skeletal muscle relaxants (SMRs) for chronic pain is only effective for certain conditions, such as painful spasms, cramps, and neck pain, according to a review published in JAMA Network Open. Benjamin J. Oldfield, MD, from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues assessed the effectiveness or efficacy of long-term use of SMRs for chronic pain. Based on 30 randomized controlled trials (1,314 participants) and 14 cohort studies (1,168 participants), the researchers identified nine unique SMRs. The strongest evidence for effectiveness was for SMRs used for trigeminal neuralgia, neck pain, and painful cramps. SMRs used for fibromyalgia, low back pain, and other syndromes were not more beneficial than placebo. Sedation and dry mouth were the most common AEs. There was a low-to-moderate risk for bias for randomized controlled trials, and cohort studies had fair to good quality.
