Ibuprofin Advil bad for Bone healing
I came across this concept while googling for info to help heal my broken tibia.
I even found a scientific article that compared the 4 scientific studies on point and found the data mixed and not fully conclusive.
Intuitively it makes sense, since swelling and inflammation might be what stimulates bone growth.
I asked my ortho at my last checkup and he said absolutely without a doubt, no question in his mind. Kinda surprising that he didn't mention it on m first visit if its so true.
He had an anecdotal story of a young guy that was sort of an evil kneivel of constant broken bones. His latest break was not healing for several months. After stopping his regimen of 800mg of ibu every 6 hours (clearly they guy was an extreme case of ibu dosage for all his aches and pains) he healed up as expected by the next visit.
An occasional dose should not hurt, but I know a lot of skiers that consider ibu a miracle drug to combat swelling and aches.
When healing a broken bone, you may want to ease up on the ibu.
Smoking is the worst possible thing for bone healing. My ortho said ibu is a distant second.
He also said there are drugs that accelerate bone healing, but they have a side effect of increasing the risk of bone cancer. Said there are probably some elite athletes that take it to get back in the game.
Interesting stuff. Thought I would share if it helps anyone else.