♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- Hi folks. I'm Bob Schrupp, Physical Therapist.
- Brad Heineck, Physical Therapist.
- And together, we are the most famous
physical therapists on the internet.
- Well in our opinion of course, Bob.
- Again, we are honored today Brad,
to have Chris, the pharmacist with us.
And again we're gonna discuss- - Hi guys.
- the topic, and...
of ibuprofen today. - Great.
- And the good, the bad, the ugly, the dangers, the-
- Right. ibuprofen, I think is probably
one of the most commonly used
over the counter drug, at least in the United States.
- I have to admit, it's probably the one
that I use the most.
- Right. And they sell in these big jugs,
you get a thousand pills in there
and see how long you can make it last (Bob laughs)
kind of thing, you know.
And it actually, I think Chris is gonna tell us
the actual problems that we face as a society
with pills like this. Potential.
So they're great healing properties
for pain and all that kind of thing.
- Promote healing. - Promote healing. Yes.
- Right.
- But what are the, the things we need to be aware of?
That's the big thing.
So Chris, once again, pharmacist, where'd you graduate from?
- Butler University, 1995, Indianapolis.
- Where's Butler?
- Indianapolis. - Indianapolis.
- Yup. - Excellent.
- Couple of trips to the final four a few years back
with Brad Stevens - Yup. I remember that.
- who's now with the Celtics.
But they're doing well this year.
Just beat number one Villanova.
- Oh, cool. - So it's A okay.
- All right. Excellent.
- Go Butler. - So 20, over 20 years
as a pharmacist,
a lot of experience, and he's just,
his mind is like an encyclopedia.
You'll find out in just a moment here.
It's fun to talk to him and get some information.
So ibuprofen, the big picture.
What is it?
- ibuprofen's a anti-inflammatory
under the category of NSAID's.
So it stands for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
It's kind of a mouthful,
but for many of us, when you talk about the good,
the bad, and the ugly,
I think it's a go-to choice for many, many people.
It's actually my favorite choice for pain reliever as well.
- Sure.
- We, it does a great job.
Not only does it relieve pain, but it relieves inflammation.
And if you're, with you guys being physical therapists,
your patients are gonna have pain and inflammation
for a variety of different things.
- Sure. - And so it kind of is
the jack of all trades
kind of medication to really help.
- I do want to ask you this.
I probably use this wrong,
but I, sometimes when I get an upper respiratory issue,
I'll use ibuprofen.
Is that ridiculous, or is there any help for,
I think psychologically it helps me. (Bob and Brad laugh)
- Well, I mean- - Go ahead and take 'em Bob.
- I know. This is like the lay person coming in
and talking to you here on this.
- If you have a cold,
I think it would probably be something
that I don't think there's any control
studies I've ever read, but if you have a cold
you're gonna have inflammation.
- Right. - So frankly, if you have a-
- And that's how I looked at it.
- And if you have inflammation,
I suspect you could probably loosely translate
that yeah, it's probably gonna do you some good.
I couldn't speak to any studies.
I guess I'll have to research that.
I feel better.
Especially if you have
like an upper respiratory issue
and running a fever too.
- If you feel better Bob,
you take whatever you want. - Thank you.
- Well, I'll take the sugar pills.
For fevers, it's actually
one of your best anti-pyretics,
which is things that reduce fever.
- Sure. - So this and Tylenol.
- But we're gonna just focus on ibuprofen more.
But it is good for that.
- Is there anything in particular
you would say ibuprofen is good for
as far as your experience with any group categories.
- I've used it for everything from surgical recovery
to aches and pains, fever, headache.
It won't fix your broken heart, but I mean...
(everyone laughs)
but the reality of it,
is it really can be used
for a variety of different aches and pains.
And so it's very, very useful.
- What, okay, you wanna talk about
what amounts we should take, what level.
- Right. What volume?
- Yeah. Yeah. So basically when you look at the instructions
on any bottle, it's gonna suggest that you may take
one or two tablets up to every four to six hours apart.
So oftentimes, as long as it doesn't upset your stomach,
and that's one of the biggest things
with anti-inflammatories,
it has interactions with other drugs,
which we'll kind of talk to a little bit,
but you always wanna make sure that it's safe for you.
So always check with your pharmacist
or your doctor if it's appropriate,
and going forward from those steps,
if it's safe, one to two tablets
every four to six hours apart is the way to go,
but you always want to eat before you take this,
because it can be a little bit rough on the stomach.
Again, we'll talk about- - A full meal, or-
- Doesn't have to be a full meal.
And ibuprofen, and even
sometimes people get away with something
as simple as a glass of milk.
I prefer a piece of toast with some peanut butter,
a little bit of yogurt, or just something in the stomach,
just so that it helps to buffer and protect.
- So I've heard of people saying,
they're taking three or four of these at a time.
That's pushing the limit.
Is that it? - That that becomes
prescriptive type dosing.
So from that standpoint,
if your doctor is comfortable with it,
it's probably more than appropriate to use.
- But I would just double check with your physician
to make sure it's okay.
- Cause I've had patients who have said, they've come in,
and the doctor said,
they're giving me-
- Yeah. And doctors will oftentimes tell you
to take three or four of these
every six to eight hours apart.
But again, you'd want do that
under your doctor's guidance
just to be on the safe,
to make sure they're not causing
stomach issues like ulceration.
And we have to be careful with long term use too
because there are some complications with blood pressure.
So we have to be careful
because it's how it's metabolized in our body,
and where it works in the kidney,
that it can kind of- - raise blood pressure
or lower it? - Raise blood pressure.
So we can actually have some pretty
serious cardiovascular events.
- Now I'd like to talk a little more about
some of these serious problems
that we have in our society with this
and how we can get away with it.
But before we go on,
I just wanted to mention,
some of our viewers are new to this channel.
- That's right. - And if that's the case,
and you're not aware of subscribing,
we have videos like this.
We put one out every day,
and we've got over 900 of 'em out there now.
So subscribe to keep up with the-
- And the subscribe button is right there on the screen so.
- Yeah, go ahead, point Chris.
You got it, Chris. - Right there. Right there.
(everyone laughs) - All right, let's move on.
- Okay.
- So we're talking about the,
some it can affect your heart, you said?
- Correct.
- So- - How does it,
ibuprofen get to you heart?
- Well, yeah, ibuprofen, when we take it,
it doesn't just go to your heart.
It goes all over your body,
and it kind of works through your blood stream,
but the things that you wanna be careful with,
is what it can do in the kidney,
is that it can actually make it
a little bit rough on the kidneys
and how they metabolize things.
And so as a result, sometimes it,
you kind of clog up your kidney,
then it makes work harder on your heart
to push blood through,
'cause your kidney's a filter.
And so basically- - You plug up the filter.
- You plug up the filter. - And then the heart just-
- Yeah. You got any old filter in your house.
So yeah. It's something you want to be real careful with.
And again, if you have kidney conditions,
you want to talk to your doctor about reduced dose,
or if it's even appropriate for you,
If you have blood pressure issues,
if short term versus long term use
is gonna be safe and appropriate.
- Sure. - So again,
it's definitely something
you wanna work closely with your physician with.
Or you have a quick question,
hit up your pharmacist at your local pharmacy,
and they'll certainly be able to help you with those.
- Okay. Now I've got a friend,
he keeps these with him all the time,
and he seems, he doesn't take, 'em
like three, two times a day every day.
- What's he use 'em for?
- Oh, he has a headache, he takes one,
or he has something else, or...
But if he takes it for years,
it's like get an ibuprofen out for this or that,
is that kind of usage where it's not 10 pills a day
or four or five pills a day,
but it's, on a week you may take
three or four or five on an average.
- Yeah. - No problem with that?
- Yeah, I mean, you can.
Yeah. I use ibuprofen almost on a daily basis,
but again, I've checked with my doctor,
and he's comfortable with that.
But the reality of it is,
is that when you have,
you never know when you're gonna get
an ache, or a pain, or a headache, or a cold, or a fever.
So it's got a variety of different uses.
So yeah, I think it's a great go-to drug.
I think it's appropriate to use
in the prescribed amounts,
or what's your recommended OTC at that point.
- Okay. And as far as your view,
and from what you see as a pharmacist behind the counter,
and what you read and stuff,
what kind of problems do we have in the United States
as far as maybe overuse of this?
Is that something that's present?
- Yeah. Yeah. I think overuse
in a lot of, like I think I alluded
in the other video that we did,
a lot of runners call it vitamin I.
So people take it prevalently.
And so it's one of those things that,
long term use,
the most common thing that
we're gonna have are GI bleeds or ulcerations.
So it's certainly something
that we wanna be very careful with.
- So this can help.
You're not gonna take this if you have a GI bleed.
It could cause them.
- It can actually cause them.
- So yeah. It actually erodes away at your stomach.
Not to get into it.
- I want to just go off and veer off
into a little bit different direction here.
So the argument sometimes,
is that after you've injured a muscle or injured something,
you take this.
But they'll say, "Well that's the natural healing process."
Don't we want it to be inflamed?
Don't we want it to be...
- That is- - So...
- That's true. And so usually
it's kinda one of those things
where if you have a sprain or a break,
the inflammatory calvacade that occurs,
actually, even though it hurts,
and it causes lots of swelling,
is a good thing to promote healing.
And there are some orthopedic circles
that suggest staying away from anti-inflammatories
for at least seven days from that point in time.
- They do? Interesting. - So that is true.
And certainly something.
So, and then, then you have that comfort
versus healing battle. - Sure.
- Which is a real battle.
- Right. - So it kind of comes down to,
well, what do we do?
Is it ice and elevation and just kind of suck it up,
or do we take something to at least mitigate the pain
so that we're comfortable,
so we can do our day to day and improve quality of life?
So holistically, if you want to heal,
if you could stay away from it,
I think it's probably ideal for the first seven days
from an acute injury, particularly a break,
because it can slow the healing process.
I am not in depth to-
- Your fracture of a bone?
- Yeah. I couldn't say, to a degree
- Yeah. That's gonna be a pretty tough...
- That would be a question for your doctor
to see if they're comfortable with that.
And they might say, "Yeah,
"after seven to 10 days, go ahead."
And that's usually what I hear
at least when we have people coming in post surgically,
or if they've had a pretty bad injury.
- Sure. - I wonder,
with a common weightlifter,
who's trying to tear down muscle,
build it up again.
I wonder if that affects that process or not.
- You mean on a long term use?
- Well, yeah.
I mean, let's say every time you lift,
and you get sore, you take ibuprofen.
Is that affecting the ability to build muscle?
I don't know. I don't know.
- I think if you went from a pure theoretical standpoint,
- Yes. It probably does.
Because again, that inflammation,
that tearing of the muscle tissue
is creating growth and development
for that muscle to get bigger and stronger.
So if you take the anti-inflammatory,
it probably slows down the process.
The, if you probably-
- I knew there was a reason why I wasn't getting big.
- Yeah.
(everyone laughs)
- Using too much ibuprofen.
I hate it when that happens.
- You don't wanna be strong like bull, Bob
- But I think that there are many athletes,
average Joe's and professionals alike
that probably use this regularly
because it helps them get through from day to day
to the next event or the next exercise.
- I think a lot, probably like you said, the osteoarthritis.
Wouldn't you guess?
I'm assuming that a lot of people take this-
- Oh, very much so.
- Arthritis- - I think so.
And it's certainly something that does pay its dividends.
So I think it's appropriate to use.
And again, with osteoarthritis, that's a chronic condition.
That isn't getting any better.
Once that genie's come out of the bottle,
you're not putting it back.
- Right. (laughs) - So the reality of this,
is what do we do?
Well, you can suffer with it,
or you can try and do something about it.
- You can go to therapy too.
They've got some options.
(everyone laughs)
- But, that's we're not gonna fix it.
- Yeah. - So, but again, I think
as long as your doctor's comfortable with it,
you don't have any conditions
that preclude you from using this,
I think it's appropriate to use
as long as your doctor's comfortable
with the length of time that you have to use it for,
and it's not creating new problems.
- All right. Again, our thanks to Chris for coming today.
What a great honor, and-
- More than you wanted to know about ibuprofen probably.
- I think it's very interesting, so.
It is. It's very good.
- Thanks a lot.
- Thank you.