Study Shows Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Be Safe Alternative for Pain Relief

Fish oil supplements containing omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) might help treat neck and back pain, a new study shows.

Such supplements might be "a safer alternative" to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for some patients with spine-related pain, write Joseph Maroon, MD, and Jeffrey Bost, PAC.

Maroon and Bost work in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's neurological surgery department. Their study appears in Surgical Neurology.

The study doesn't prove that fish oil pills work as well as NSAIDs for back pain, note Maroon and Bost. They call their study a "starting point" for research on omega-3 fatty acids and other nonpharmaceutical treatment alternatives for spine-related pain.

Patients Studied

Maroon and Bost studied 250 people seen by a neurosurgeon for nonsurgical neck or back pain -- mainly with degenerative disc disease, in which discs that serve as shock absorbers in the spine wear down.

"Degenerative disc disease is one of the greatest causes of pain and disability in the United States, affecting approximately one out of four people at some time in their lives," Maroon says in a news release from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

All of the patients were taking NSAIDs; three-quarters were taking Cox-2 inhibitors, a type of NSAID. None was allergic to fish or taking blood-thinning drugs.

NSAIDs and Cox-2 inhibitors are potent painkillers, but their side effects can include stomach ulcers and a rise in heart and stroke risks in some patients, particularly with higher doses of the drugs.

Two Cox-2 inhibitors, Vioxx and Bextra, have been taken off the market over those possible heart risks. Vioxx came off the market in September 2004; Bextra was removed in April 2005.