Medrol dose packs are commonly used to calm down inflammation and pain in musculoskeletal injuries. This pack starts with a high dose of steroids that tapers down over the next 6 days. Doesn’t fix the injury or restore the mechanics of an injury, but it sure curbs the inflammation associated with the injury. So what could be wrong with that?
For starters, any diabetic can tell you that steroids wreak havoc on blood sugar. They should–one of the jobs of cortisol in the body is to break down muscle to make glucose. That may be fine when you skip a single breakfast, but with time you lose muscle mass and head towards diabetes.
But what about healthy patients? A short course of steroids won’t do any harm, right?
Other than the aforementioned fact that it does nothing to actually heal an injury and will actually weaken the tissues leading to increased concern for future injuries, but, in this particular study, a single week of low dose prednisone in healthy males worsened the way insulin worked in the body by 33%.
This is NOT a good thing given that the effectiveness of the way our bodies use insulin is a (if not THE) critical component to a long, disease free life. As usual, my bent as a chiropractor here in Mesa is that ANY musculoskeletal problem should be treated without medications first. Anything less may produce greater harm than benefit.