Which is why doctors would love to be able to prescribe a topical ibuprofen that patients could rub into aching joints for relief.
Dr. Robert Tiso has done just that in a small study that showed "comparable clinical efficacy and patient satisfaction" between the two types of ibuprofen.
Tiso is an anesthesiologist specializing in pain control at New York Spine and Wellness Center, with offices in North Syracuse and DeWitt. Results of his study appear in the September-October issue of the journal Pain Physician.
He says he was involved with an upstart pharmaceutical company that developed a way for ibuprofen to be absorbed through the skin. "As a physician, you're always trained to be skeptical," he says. He tried it on himself first. Then he created a study using 20 patients with chronic knee pain, whom he interviewed after two weeks of using one or the other types of ibuprofen. "It seemed to work very well."
He says laboratory studies in animals have subsequently shown that the topical medication concentrates in the synovial space around the joint, exactly where it needs to be.
Tiso says his center has 30,000 patients, many of whom use other types of topical agents for pain relief. He hopes topical ibuprofen is developed so they have that as an option. "With no question, we would use this drug," he says.