Statins & Musculoskeletal Pain

The incidence of adverse musculoskeletal and rheumatologic events in patients who are prescribed and medicated with cholesterol-lowering stating drugs is greater than in patients who are not medicated. The evidence is already established that myalgia (muscle pain) is a common effect when taking statins, due to the fact that mechanism by which the body produces CoQ10 is shut down when cholesterol synthesis is shut down. However, this new review further ties incidents such as sprains, strains and according to one review, joint disease or osteoarthritis with statin use.

The researchers stated, "this is the first study, using propensity score matching, to show that statin use is associated with an increased likelihood of diagnoses of musculoskeletal conditions, arthropathies, and injuries."

One of the lead researchers noted that the "wide array of clinical presentations" of musculoskeletal adverse events associated with statins includes myalgias, muscle weakness, muscle cramps, rhabdomyolysis, autoimmune muscle disease, and tendinous diseases.

When it comes to joint pain versus cardiovascular health, cardiovascular health rightfully takes precedence. The issue becomes the tendency among primary care providers to prescribe statin drugs such as simvastatin, atorvastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and fluvastatin or lovastatin as the first line therapy increases annually and the patients become younger. 

Primary care providers should always weigh the benefits and complications with prescribing statins to all patients, but specifically younger patients. The first line therapy should always be dietary and lifestyle modification widely reported and available in a number of reputable sources. 

Interesting News On The Medical Front

 Rehabilitation & Spinal Care of Rockford is concerned with your overall health and wellness, and in this vein attempts to provide it's blog readers with current medical information that is pertinent to them. In this particular case, a recent bit of news came out of the cardiovascular realm of medicine which has implications for musculoskeletal and nutritional health.

 One of the front-line medications for heart disease is a Niaspan, a niacin (vitamin B3) based medicine that helps to lower "bad" cholesterol (LDL, triglycerides) and raise "good" cholesterol (HDL) in the bloodstream. The express purpose of lowering the aforementioned "bad" cholesterol levels is lowering the risks of strokes and heart attacks.

 This study, the HPS-2-THRIVE, found that the extended-release niacin/laropiprant medication used in the study, while helping to raise the "good" cholesterol, has dubious value in preventing adverse vascular events. Overall, the patients within the study, and there were 25,673 of them, did experience an average drop of 10 mg/dl in LDL values and 33 mg/dl in triglyceride values, but that those drops did not result in less vascular events (stroke, heart disease).

 This is relevant to the patients of RASC Rockford in large part because of the use of niacin as a supplement to affect cholesterol levels. It also affects RASC patients because the typical next treatment for patients with cholesterol problems is a statin-drug. Statins affect the production of cholesterol within the body and can cause vague musculo-skeletal problems in patients who are taking the medication. This can be remedied with the use of CoQ-10 supplementation and RASC provides the highest quality CoQ-10 to it's patients.