Piroxicam in acute musculoskeletal disorders and sport injuries

In two multicentre double-blind, parallel studies, piroxicam was found to be as well tolerated and significantly more effective than placebo in relieving moderate and severe pain, swelling, and limitation of movement resulting from acute musculoskeletal injuries. The efficacy and toleration of piroxicam were then compared with those of indomethacin and naproxen in two international multicentre double-blind trials involving 1,004 patients suffering from acute sprains or tendinitis resulting from sports injuries; a common study protocol was used in all centres. In all treatment groups, spontaneous pain, pain on movement, joint swelling, and tenderness were reduced significantly as early as three days after the start of treatment, and overall assessment of efficacy was excellent or good in more than 80% of patients. The study results indicated that the efficacy of all drugs was comparable, but analysis of side effects reports showed that piroxicam was significantly (p less than 0.005) better tolerated by the patients.