Abstract

Background: Low back pain (LBP) afflicts 60–80% of the people worldwide at some point in their lifetime. Association of spinal muscle spasm justifies centrally acting muscle relaxants in the treatment. Controversial superiority of eperisone visa-vis thiocolchicoside was instrumental to inception of this research.

Aims and Objectives: This study aims to compare the efficacy and safety of eperisone with thiocolchicoside in treatment of non-specific LBP.

Materials and Methods: This follow-up study was done in C. R. G. Hospital, Ujjain (India). Eligible 215 patients, of either sex, between 18 and 60 years from the outpatient orthopedic department were included and dysfunctional status was quantified by modified Oswestry Disability Index. The patients were given eperisone hydrochloride 100 mg 3 times daily or thiocolchicoside 8 mg twice daily. The analgesic activity and adverse drug reactions were evaluated on the follow-up visit after 7 days of treatment against the baseline.

Results: Of 196 patients who completed the study, females were more (119; 60.71%) than the male (77; 39.28%). “Mean score ± standard deviation” of disability decreased from 26.13 ± 8.28 at baseline to 11.47 ± 4.86 in eperisone group and from 24.78 ± 7.24 at baseline to 9.92 ± 3.63 in thiocolchicoside group. Change in the score against the baseline was statistically significant (P < 0.05) in both the groups but insignificant across the groups. Adverse events experienced were less with eperisone.

Conclusion: Compared to thiocolchicoside, eperisone hydrochloride is equipotent but better tolerated option in LBP.

Key words: Low Back Pain; Modified Oswestry Scale; Skeletal Muscle Relaxant; Thiocolchicoside; Eperisone