I have never broke any bones in my body, but from what I hear they are painful. A new study coming out of Milwaukee today is showing ibuprofen as a better pain reliever in kids; than a narcotic medication containing codeine. Kids did better with their pain, appetites, and activity levels on ibuprofen; than a codeine pain reliever such as Tylenol 3. I’m not sure if this study plans to use adults next, but I did find it surprising.

I have to deal with kidney stones and ibuprofen doesn’t work too well in these cases. I would imagine a broken arm feels pretty painful too and I think I would prefer the strongest pain medication possible. Especially during the first day and would want something strong for any medical procedures that would need to be performed. I would hate to sit still for a casting process; while only having ibuprofen as my pain relief.

You can buy ibuprofen over the counter in popular name brand products like Advil or Motrin. Parents might want to keep these types of drugs in stock, just in case their children do break an arm or something else at home. They could give this medication immediately and would probably help control the pain; while you made your way to the emergency room. I think doctors at most emergency rooms would give kids a shot of something more powerful than ibuprofen and codeine too. I know I get pain meds that are stronger than codeine for my kidney stones and doctors would want to relax the crying child as soon as possible.

The study from Wisconsin is for a child’s broken arm during the first 3 days of the break. I do believe most doctors would administer something much stronger than ibuprofen in the first hours of the break and may send them home with a prescription for codeine or a higher dose of ibuprofen; that you couldn’t buy over the counter. Parents would be wise to use ibruprofen after day 1 and try avoiding codiene or stronger narcotics, since they are habit-forming and very addictive drugs. The test did involve more than 300 children, so these are some good signs that ibuprofen is an effective pain reliever and something we can all buy over the counter. Stronger pain relievers can cause drowzy side-effects and curb appetites and the latest studies on ibuprofen do prove ibuprofen is far better in controlling these 2 problems. I’m just not quite sold on the pain relief efforts and something as serious as a broken arm, that most patients would experience in the first couple of hours of the break.