Effect of iboprufen use on muscle soreness, damage and performance: a preliminary investigation
Two articles on PainSci cite Hasson 1993: 1. A Deep Dive into Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness 2. Voltaren Gel: Does It Work?
PainSci notes on Hasson 1993:
An old and small but well-designed test of ibuprofen for muscle soreness, showing a modest but definite benefit for pain, but probably not function. In other words, ibuprofen reduced the soreness only, but had no significant effect on other outcomes, like muscle function and inflammatory markers.
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
Twenty subjects were randomly assigned to: 1) prophylactic ibuprofen (N = 5) [400 mg TID initiated 4 h before collection of baseline data and strenuous eccentric exercise bout], 2) therapeutic ibuprofen (N = 5) [400 mg TID initiated 24 h after baseline], 3) placebo (N = 5), or 4) control (N = 5). Muscle soreness perception, plasma creatine kinase, knee extensor torque, and EMG of the quadriceps were evaluated at baseline, 24, and 48 h. The prophylactic ibuprofen group had between 40 and 50% less muscle soreness perception and significantly less decline in isometric, concentric, and eccentric torque at 24 h compared with the other three groups (P < 0.05). At 48 h both prophylactic and therapeutic ibuprofen had significantly less muscle soreness perception and decline in torque than the placebo and control groups (P < 0.05). There was no difference between the amount of muscle damage between the four groups at 24 and 48 h. Vastus medialis and lateralis EMG magnitude decreased across time. Vastus lateralis EMG magnitude had significantly less decline from baseline for prophylactic ibuprofen compared with the other three treatments at 24 h, while both prophylactic and therapeutic ibuprofen had significantly less decline at 48 h. These data indicate that a prophylactic dosage of ibuprofen does not prevent CK release from muscle, but does decrease muscle soreness perception and may assist in restoring muscle function.
related content
- “The effects of ibuprofen on delayed muscle soreness and muscular performance after eccentric exercise,” SP Tokmakidis, EA Kokkinidis, I Smilios, and H Douda, Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 2003.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- No long-term effects after a three-week open-label placebo treatment for chronic low back pain: a three-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. Kleine-Borgmann 2022 Pain.
- Exercise and education versus saline injections for knee osteoarthritis: a randomised controlled equivalence trial. Bandak 2022 Ann Rheum Dis.
- Association of Lumbar MRI Findings with Current and Future Back Pain in a Population-based Cohort Study. Kasch 2022 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- A double-blinded randomised controlled study of the value of sequential intravenous and oral magnesium therapy in patients with chronic low back pain with a neuropathic component. Yousef 2013 Anaesthesia.
- Is Neck Posture Subgroup in Late Adolescence a Risk Factor for Persistent Neck Pain in Young Adults? A Prospective Study. Richards 2021 Phys Ther.