What is inflammation?
Inflammation is a natural and necessary response of the body's immune system to injury, infection, or foreign substances. It is the first major step in attempting to remove harmful stimuli and begin the healing process. Inflammation involves several steps: vascular responses (blood flow), leukocyte movement (white blood cells), exudate formation (fluid from broken vessels), and repair tissue growth.
What causes inflammation?
Acute inflammatory reactions are usually caused by tissue damage such as that resulting from trauma, heat, chemicals, excessive ultraviolet radiation exposure or other environmental irritants, microbial invasion or auto-immune attack – basically any type of noxious stimulus – large or small – has the potential to induce an acute inflammatory reaction. This is often described as the "first line of defense" against foreign material or harmful stimuli.
What are some signs and symptoms of inflammation?
You may be able to detect early stages of inflammation by observing redness, heat, swelling, pain and decreased function of the affected area. As the inflammatory reaction progresses, you may experience certain systemic reactions such as fever or malaise.
What are anti-inflammatories?
Anti-inflammatory agents are substances that help control or reduce the magnitude of an inflammatory response. These agents have been used for many years in humans to treat conditions involving acute episodes of pain and swelling due to injury. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which include over 100 different compounds, are most commonly used.
How do anti-inflammatories help with injuries?
Anti-inflammatory drugs work by inhibiting the enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX), which is responsible for the formation of substances called prostaglandins that stimulate pain and inflammation in response to injury or microbial invasion. By blocking the COX enzyme, inflammatory reactions are reduced so healing can occur more rapidly than if no treatment were given. However, it should be remembered that many acute injuries result from trauma, which may also cause tissue damage through direct physical effects unrelated to any inflammatory process. So although NSAIDs act by inhibiting inflammation, they will not necessarily provide complete relief from all types of pain associated with an injury. Under these circumstances, other analgesic agents may be beneficial.
Are there any side effects to taking NSAIDs?
Yes, because NSAID treatment inhibits the body's normal response mechanism for dealing with injury, inflammation and infection, there are certain risks to using them. For example, if you take an anti-inflammatory drug when you have no signs of inflammation (such as after dental surgery), there is a possibility that you could develop serious gastrointestinal problems such as bleeding or perforation of your stomach or intestines. However this would be extremely unlikely unless you were also taking another medication called a "proton pump inhibitor", which reduces the secretion of gastric acid in the stomach. Other events like liver damage and kidney failure can occur but these are relatively rare.
Are there any other ways to take NSAIDs?
Yes, topical formulations of several different NSAIDs are available for application directly to the skin These formulations can produce higher tissue concentrations than oral doses and therefore offer an alternative method of delivering anti-inflammatory effect without the same side effects as taking them by mouth. The most common topical NSAIDs are diclofenac, indomethacin, ketoprofen and piroxicam. Depending on body size and location of the injury, quantities ranging from 3–10 grams per day would be required to achieve therapeutic blood levels. Apply these medications directly over the injured area 2–3 times daily depending on the severity of your condition.
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