Statin-induced muscular symptoms: a report of 3 cases

Although the prescription of statin medication has increased worldwide and especially in Europe, its musculoskeletal side effects and their management strategy has not been highlighted in orthopaedic literature. We present three cases of statin-induced musculoskeletal symptoms which presented to an orthopaedic department. There were two patients with statin induced muscle pain (one in the thigh and one around the hip), and one with both myositis (with raised creatine kinase) and lupus-like symptoms. All of the symptoms resolved with stopping the statin. Muscle pain (often with normal creatine kinase) is the commonest side effect of statins. It is usually bilateral, but two of our cases presented with unilateral symptoms which made it more difficult to exclude a primary orthopaedic pathology. The widespread use of statins is likely to lead to an increase in the number of patients presenting to orthopaedic surgeons with muscle pain. It is important to consider muscle pain induced by statins in the differential diagnosis of acute or chronic pain in the limbs.