Ankle sprain is a common acute
soft-tissue injury that often results in
pain,
inflammation, and
ecchymosis. In this multicenter, double-blind, randomized parallel-group study, 445 adult patients received
celecoxib 400 mg/day,
ibuprofen 2,400 mg/day, or placebo for 10 days. Patients had experienced grade 1 or 2
ankle sprains within 48 hours and had moderate to severe ankle
pain. Patient's Global Assessment of
Ankle Injury responses, given on days 4 and 8, showed that the
celecoxib group improved significantly more than the placebo group did, with 67% of the
celecoxib group versus 55% of the placebo group improving at day 4 (P < .05). Patient's Assessment of Ankle
Pain Visual Analog Scale on Weight Bearing responses, also given on days 4 and 8, showed that
celecoxib was as efficacious in the treatment of
ankle sprain as the maximum therapeutic dosage of
ibuprofen and that, compared with placebo, it reduced
pain significantly more (P < .05). The
celecoxib group recovered and returned to function earlier (after 5 days) than did either the placebo group (8 days) or the
ibuprofen group (6 days); the
celecoxib-placebo difference was significant.
Celecoxib, a cyclo-oxygenase-2-specific inhibitor with platelet-function-sparing properties, may be useful as a multimodal adjuvant in the treatment of
ankle sprain.