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Role of Muscle Relaxants in the Treatment of Pain

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Comprehensive Treatment of Chronic Pain by Medical, Interventional, and Integrative Approaches

Abstract

This chapter is about drugs approved to treat both spastic upper motor neuron conditions like cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis and drugs that are used to relieve muscle spasm associated with musculoskeletal conditions such as acute non-radicular cervical or low back pain. Unlike other analgesic classes such as opioids and NSAIDS, the muscle relaxant drugs as a group share neither chemical structure nor mechanism of action. For example, two drugs approved to treat spasm, baclofen, and tizanidine work by different mechanisms. The former blocks GABA-B receptors and the latter is an alpha-2 agonist. Cyclobenzaprine, a drug approved for treating spasm-type pain in the low back, except for one double bond, is chemically identical to the tricyclic antidepressant amitriptyline.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Robert I. Cohen M.D., M.A. (Educ)

  2. Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Carol A. Warfield M.D.

  3. 222, Prides Crossing, MA, 01965, USA

    Carol A. Warfield M.D.

Authors
  1. Robert I. Cohen M.D., M.A. (Educ)
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  2. Carol A. Warfield M.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert I. Cohen M.D., M.A. (Educ) .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Center for Pain Relief, Inc., West Virginia University, 400 Court Street, Suite 100, Charleston, 25301, West Virginia, USA

    Timothy R. Deer

  2. Stanford Pain Management Center, Redwood City, CA, Clinic Chief, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, 94065, California, USA

    Michael S. Leong

  3. Department of Anesthesiology, Rush Medical College, Professor, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, 60612, Illinois, USA

    Asokumar Buvanendran

  4. Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, 17033-0850, Pennsylvania, USA

    Vitaly Gordin

  5. Center for Interventional Pain and Spine, Newark, DE USA, Medical Director, Bryn Mawr Hospital, Bryn Mawr, 19010, Pennsylvania, USA

    Philip S. Kim

  6. President, National Institute of Pain, Tampa, 33558, Florida, USA

    Sunil J. Panchal

  7. The LITE Center, Clinical Associate Professor, Medical Director, School of Medicine, Miami, 33143, Florida, USA

    Albert L. Ray

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© 2013 American Academy of Pain Medicine

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Cohen, R.I., Warfield, C.A. (2013). Role of Muscle Relaxants in the Treatment of Pain. In: Deer, T., et al. Comprehensive Treatment of Chronic Pain by Medical, Interventional, and Integrative Approaches. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1560-2_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1560-2_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-1559-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-1560-2

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