Efficacy of Lidocaine Patch in Acute Musculoskeletal Pain in the Emergency Department

Ibuprofen and other nonsteroidal antiinflammatory pain medications have been traditionally used for relief of mild to moderate acute musculoskeletal pains. However, if this medication did not work, a different modality for pain control would be added to the original regimen. In recent times, lidocaine patch has been introduced as a separate modality for pain control. This medication is thought to help by selectively inhibiting voltage‐gated sodium channels in nociceptors involved in pain response. Given the separate modality, it would be prudent to see whether the addition of lidocaine patch to the ibuprofen would help relieve the pain more so than the antiinflammatory‐only regimen.