New guideline for Management of Acute Pain from Non-Low Back, Musculoskeletal Injuries in Adults.
This guideline is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and recommends use of topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), then oral NSAIDs, then acetaminophen for acute musculoskeletal pain. They recommend against the use of opioids, which were found to be no more effective, but more harmful, than NSAIDs.
This guideline was supported by systematic reviews led by the National Pain Centre on the management of acute pain from non–low back musculoskeletal injuries, and predictors of prolonged opioid use after initial prescription for acute musculoskeletal injuries.
Canadians are the second highest users per capita of opioids in the world. The 2017 Canadian Guideline for Opioid for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain was developed to optimize evidence-based prescribing of opioids for chronic non-cancer pain.
The guideline's recommendations for clinical practice were developed by an international team of clinicians, researchers and patients, led by the Michael G. DeGroote National Pain Centre at McMaster University and funded by Health Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The guideline was published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), the main review of benefits and harms associated with opioids was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and the synthesis of patients values and preferences was published in Pain Medicine.
The guideline incorporates medical evidence published since the previous national opioid use guideline was made available in 2010. They are recommendations for physicians, but are not regulatory requirements.
The guideline does not consider opioid use for acute pain, nor for patients with pain due to cancer or in palliative care, or those under treatment for opioid use disorder.
These recommendations are systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances. They should be used as an adjunct to inform clinical decision making.
Download the Guideline for the Evidence-Informed Primary Care Management of Low Back Pain here.
The target of this guideline is all Canadian healthcare professionals including primary care providers, medical specialists, and members of multidisciplinary teams who treat patients with fibromyalgia. It is also relevant to patients with fibromyalgia, who may find this guidance helpful for shared-care decision making.
These guidelines provide evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and management of endometriosis.
The Special Interest Group of the Canadian Pain Society produced consensus-based guidelines for the pharmacological management of neuropathic pain. The society aimed to generate an additional guideline for other forms of neuropathic pain treatments.
The criteria used to determine the categorization of the recommendations (Do, Do Not Do, and Do Not Know) are defined at the end of the "Major Recommendations" field.
In addition, an explanation of the evidence source (i.e., types of evidence and corresponding "seed" guidelines) is also available. The Guideline Development Group (GDG) considered the balance of benefits and harms for the interventions listed in the Alberta Guideline. Italicized statements relating to harm are included in the recommendations, where appropriate. These statements were sourced from the recommendations or elsewhere in the "seed" guidelines, or were created by the GDG.
The purpose of these guidelines is to clinicians make evidence-informed decisions about care of patients with non-specific low back pain.
The Evidence-Based Recommendations for Medical Management of Chronic Non-Malignant Pain below is a guideline facilitated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO). It is posted on the National Pain Centre website for historical reference. This Guideline was published in November 2000 and functioned as the opioid guideline for that time. The accompanying document Reference Guide for Clinicians for the Medical Management of Chronic Non-Malignant Pain contains information for clinicians extracted from the 2000 guideline. In May 2010 the Canadian Guideline for Safe and Effective Use of Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain became the current source for information on opioids. The 2010 Guideline will be updated in five years.
MDCL-2101
McMaster University
1280 Main Street West
Hamilton, ON
L8S 4K1
Monday to Friday
8:30am to 4:30pm
Phone: 905-525-9140 ext. 22743
Fax: 905-523-1224
Email: npc@mcmaster.ca