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Antispasmodics and Muscle Relaxants

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Deer's Treatment of Pain

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Abstract

Skeletal muscle relaxants are frequently prescribed for low back pain and other musculoskeletal pain with or after failure of first-line treatments such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). While there can be benefits of using skeletal muscle relaxants in the short term, the long-term effects are unclear. These medications are heterogeneous and not chemically related and have several important adverse effects that should be considered given their widespread utilization. In the United States, carisoprodol, chlorzoxazone, cyclobenzaprine, metaxalone, methocarbamol, and orphenadrine are FDA approved for acute musculoskeletal conditions. Baclofen, tizanidine, and dantrolene are approved for spasticity. There is no clear evidence to show superiority of one muscle relaxant over another in managing acute low back pain, and most studies only evaluate results at 12 weeks or less. Most guidelines and current evidence support short-term use for all medications discussed in this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pain Institute of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, USA

    Katherine D. Travnicek

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  1. Katherine D. Travnicek
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Correspondence to Katherine D. Travnicek .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Spine and Nerve Center of the Virginias, Charleston, WV, USA

    Timothy R. Deer

  2. Evolve Restorative Center, Santa Rosa, CA, USA

    Jason E. Pope

  3. Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Tim J. Lamer

  4. Pain Diagnostics and Interventional Care, Sewickley, PA, USA

    David Provenzano

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Travnicek, K.D. (2019). Antispasmodics and Muscle Relaxants. In: Deer, T., Pope, J., Lamer, T., Provenzano, D. (eds) Deer's Treatment of Pain. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12281-2_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12281-2_22

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-12280-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-12281-2

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