getting swelling down – gel or tablets?

tweaked my quad the other day and have a bit of swelling that is coming down with the aid of frequent icing, also taking Nurofen as an anti-inflamatory, question is would the neurofen gel applied locally be more effective than the tablets taken orally?

cheers

Matthew

I was told by a pharmacist that there was no proof that topical application of gel did anything other than just rubbing it with butter/ky jelly/jam would.

It’s about the same by the looks of it, but possibly with less side effects from the gel. Quick trawl of pubmed doesn’t show much on this topic, but here is one relevant study. There is another paper showing gel is better than placebo gel too. I’m sitting here with ITB syndrome, so I thought I’d look it up.

Titre du document / Document title
Comparative efficacy of a proprietary topical ibuprofen gel and oral ibuprofen in acute soft tissue injuries: a randomized, double-blind study
Auteur(s) / Author(s)
WHITEFIELD M. (1) ; O’KANE C. J. A. (2) ; ANDERSON S. (1) ;
Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)
(1) Dermal Laboratories Ltd, Hitchin, ROYAUME-UNI
(2) Combermere Barracks, Windsor, ROYAUME-UNI
Résumé / Abstract
The efficacy of a novel, proprietary topical formulation of ibuprofen 5% gel (Ibugel) and ibuprofen 400 mg tablets (1200 mg daily) was compared in a double-blind, double-dummy, parallel group study in patients with acute soft tissue injuries. Patients received either active gel plus placebo tablets (n = 50) or active tablets plus placebo gel (n = 50) for at least 7 days. The gel was applied and one tablet was taken three times daily. The two treatments showed similar efficacy. There were no significant differences between the groups for either the primary efficacy endpoint, the median time for the injury to be rated as ‘completely better’ by the patients (>14 days active gel, 13.5 days active tablets; P = 0.59), or for other efficacy measures including the times to clinically significant relief from pain at rest or on movement and swelling. In summary, ibuprofen gel shows similar efficacy to oral ibuprofen 400 mg and may offer improved tolerability.
Revue / Journal Title
Journal of clinical pharmacy and therapeutics ISSN 0269-4727
Source / Source
2002, vol. 27, no6, pp. 409-417 [9 page(s) (article)] (10 ref.)

One thing I’ve never understood that maybe someone can help with.

Swelling is part of your body’s defence response to injury. As a machine tuned by millions of years of evolution it probably knows what it’s doing and swelling must be part of the natural healing process. Why do we attempt to artificially reduce swelling?

I usually try and whack it with a rolled up copy of Women’s Weekly ’till it goes off in my pocket……..

Looking breezy, I’ll take my waterproof……….

doc’s told me the gell was little better than a placebo as my stomach being particularly intollerant to NSAIDs meant i couldnt take the pills long term.

ohh and neurophen is just ibuprophen with a bigger price sticker. Just buy cheep caffeen, asprin, paracetamol and ibuprophen and expriment till the pain goes away (read the instructions first).

donald – Member
One thing I’ve never understood that maybe someone can help with.

Swelling is part of your body’s defence response to injury. As a machine tuned by millions of years of evolution it probably knows what it’s doing and swelling must be part of the natural healing process. Why do we attempt to artificially reduce swelling?

Good point, I’ll ask one of my doctor colleagues and let you know. I’d never thought about it like that before.

Similar to Rusty. I normally think my Auntie Nora, naked. Works every time…

Placebo effect, maybe, but pop to the doc you can get far stronger palcebo effect gels than over the counter stuff…

Swelling is usually a sign of injury or infection. Swelling causes a lack of oxygen to local tissues which creates cellular damage. And can increase the time for injury such as a sprain or muscle damage to repair itself.

Ice decreases swelling and bleeding by causing a constriction of blood vessels thereby, minimizing the damage. Although this can be counter productive if used longer then 20 minutes an hour for a max of 24 hrs as slowed blood supply due to cold can slow healing.

Pain is relieved directly by its effect on pain receptors and indirectly by a decrease in swelling.

So all round minimising swelling is a good thing.

Swelling is usually a sign of injury or infection. Swelling causes a lack of oxygen to local tissues which creates cellular damage.

Why does the body do it then?

I try and avoid ibruprofen on the basis that if it hurts and unless I cant sleep because of it that i’m probably better off with the pain not letting me over use what ever is injured.

I do use arnica for the swelling though, works a treat. The mouth spray is best but the tablets are good too. Might be good for you thisisnotaspoon?

I know that a couple of years ago after playing in a 5-a-side tournanmetn in scouse land my left knee was properly swollen due to repeatedly hitting the hard pitch with it.

I nabbed some gel off my mrs’ grandad he uses on his arthritic/buggerd joints and it worked a treat.

Don’t it had a proper numbing effect so the pain went away so the swelling wasn’t half as noticeable, probably not very clever but it helped loads 😆

Sorry but the body has lots of mechanisms thorugh evolution which are not wanted or needed like hypersensitivity to pollen etc.

Best thing you can do is rest, eat properly and take a protein drink if your diet is crap.

I wouldn’t massage an injury until at least 3days or inflammation has gone otherwise leave the protective swelling alone for a few days as you don’t want to increase bleeding in the damaged tissue.

Also what is teaked? you’ve pulled it? then rest it.

Also before somebody else says it: MTFU or see a GP. 😈

From evolutionary point of view I expect we are looking at a trade off between mechanisms for keeping you alive after a major trauma and mechanism for helping for a localised injury recover.

If you recieved multiple soft tissue injuries due to trauma and you body supplied the tissue with blood at the normal rate then there must be a risk you would loose enough blood volume for blood pressure to drop low enough for your geart to stop. The swelling reduces blood supply and therefore bleeding in the affected areas.

The cost is that a smalller injury recovers more slowly

Presumably the current system was optimal for survival.

Warning I haven’t been taught Biology since I was about 14

Sounds plausible, thanks.