Paracetamol no better than placebo for acute low back pain

There was high-quality evidence that there is no difference between paracetamol (4g/day) and placebo for acute LBP in terms of pain, disability, function, quality of life and sleep quality outcomes at 1 week (immediate-term), 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 12 weeks (short-term) follow-ups. There was also no difference on global impression of recovery, patient adherence and use of rescue medication. There appeared to be no difference between paracetamol and placebo in immediate reduction of chronic LBP, although the evidence was of very low quality, and the single study on which it is based has been withdrawn by the journal. There were no differences between paracetamol and placebo for adverse events. No trial provided results for long-term follow-up.