Grant: Project Grant

Bone fractures are extremely painful, and unfortunately, the drugs available to relieve this pain are problematic. Tylenol (paracetamol) is not strong enough, opioids can cause addiction, and Advil (ibuprofen) can delay healing. This project is focused on finding a simple and inexpensive solution for this problem. Pain intensity and our ability to heal varies throughout the day due to an internal day-and night rhythm that regulates our body. According to this rhythm healing and recovery happens mainly when we are sleeping while pain and inflammation are most intense when we are awake. Accordingly, this project will investigate the effect of timing the dose of Advil with the body day-night rhythm in order to maximize the benefits of the drug while minimizing its side effects. This project can improve the way we manage bone fractures with Advil and it can also provide an extremely useful tool against the current opioid epidemic.