The use of gabapentin for neuropathic and musculoskeletal pain: A case series

Objective: To describe the clinical response to gabapentin in the treatment of neuropathic and musculoskeletal pain and to determine if a correlation exists between dose and pain response in a variety of painful disorders. To our knowledge, this is the first report of gabapentin used for neuropathic pain from carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), thoracic outlet syndrome, plexopathies, and femoral neuropathy; and musculoskeletal pain from osteoarthritis, low back pain (LBP), tension headaches, and rotator cuff tears. Methods: A verbal pain intensity scale of 0 to 10 was used on 29 patients with neuropathic and/or musculoskeletal pain. Spearman rank correlation was used to test for a relationship between gabapentin dose and pain reduction. There were 19 males and 10 females; ages ranged from 20 to 76 years with a mean age of 47. Results: At least a 30 percent reduction in pain was reported by 25 of 29 patients. Gabapentin was tolerated well with few side effects. Conclusion: This case series suggests that gabapentin is beneficial in the treatment of neuropathic and musculoskeletal pain. Double-blind, placebo-controlled studies appear to be warranted to investigate the use of gabapentin in musculoskeletal pain.