NONSTEROIDAL ANTIINFLAMMATORY DRUGS NOT HEAL

Report #6559 7/30/95

When you go to your doctor to treat a muscle injury, the odds are overwhelming that he or she will prescribe antiinflammatory drugs, such as aspirin or ibuprofin. A recent study from South Africa shows that non steroidal antiinflammatory drugs do not help you heal faster.

Muscle are made up of millions of individual fibers, just like a rope is made up of many threads. When the force on a muscle is greater than its inherent strength, some of the fibers tear, blood leaks into the muscle and you feel pain. The treatment is RICE, the first letters or Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. Stop exercising immediately; apply something cold like an ice pack and wrap a loosely constricting bandage around the injured limb to close blood vessels and restrict bleeding and swelling; and elevate the arm or leg to use gravity to drain fluid from the injured part.

When you injure a muscle, the injured cells release chemicals called prostaglandins that cause swelling, bleeding and pain. Non steroidal antiinflammatory drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofin, help to block the prostglandins that cause pain, but they also may delay healing by increasing bleeding and blocking the prostaglandins which are the first step in the healing process. After initial healing, you should rehabilitate the muscle and make it stronger so you won't injure that muscle the next you use it. Exercise against progressive resistance, such as lifting weights or pushing on special strength- training machines.

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News