Acetaminophen for low back pain

Examples

Generic Name	Brand Name
acetaminophen	Tylenol

How It Works

Acetaminophen is an analgesic, or pain reliever. Acetaminophen does not reduce inflammation, as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) do. Whether reducing inflammation helps people with low back pain is not known.

Why It Is Used

Acetaminophen is typically used for mild to moderate pain.

How Well It Works

Acetaminophen is commonly used to treat both acute and chronic low back pain. It has not been proven to be effective for new or sudden (acute) low back pain.¹ It is likely to help relieve more long-lasting (chronic) low back pain especially when it is combined with an opioid medicine.²

Like other pain medicines, acetaminophen works best if it is taken on a regular schedule instead of only when pain is severe.

Side Effects

Side effects of acetaminophen are rare. Nausea and rash are the most common.

High doses of acetaminophen can cause liver damage.

Reasons not to take acetaminophen

Do not take acetaminophen if you:

• Have kidney disease.
• Have liver disease.
• Drink alcohol heavily (3 or more drinks a day).

See Drug Reference for a full list of side effects. (Drug Reference is not available in all systems.)

What To Think About

Acetaminophen can be used by people whose stomachs cannot tolerate NSAIDs like aspirin or ibuprofen.

Acetaminophen is present in a lot of combination products, such as Tylenol 3 and cold medicines. It is important to check all products you are taking at one time to make sure that you don't take more than the recommended dosage.

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Author:	Shannon Erstad, MBA/MPH	Last Updated: February 6, 2008
Medical Review:	William M. Green, MD - Emergency Medicine Robert B. Keller, MD - Orthopedics
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