Ibuprofen pharmacology and its implications for musculoskeletal disorders

The goals of pain management in orthopedics are to provide pain relief and to facilitate rehabilitation and a return to normal function. Given the many, heterogeneous diseases in this field, we have preferred, in this review, to distinguish between acute and chronic conditions, briefly describing each disease and the relative literature on the applications of ibuprofen. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, particularly ibuprofen, are commonly used in clinical practice, and since the 1970s, authors have been trying to clarify their role, i.e. the precise indications, dosages, and levels of efficacy, in each of the most common musculoskeletal diseases. Unfortunately, this issue remains controversial for many reasons. Indeed, the quality of some manuscripts, the small number of patients included in some studies, genetic differences between populations, failure to clarify the precise physiopathology of many inflammatory/ degenerative musculoskeletal diseases, commercial interests of companies, and the high cost of randomised studies have all contributed to the confusion