Orphenadrine is used to treat muscle injuries, skeletal muscle tension, rigidity secondary to afflictions such prolapsed discs, and degenerative soft tissue disease especially in the lower back, neck, and joints. It is used to treat other causes of muscle spasms to potentiate the action of opioid analgesics against moderate to severe neuropathic pain, and it is also used to treat Parkinson's disease.[citation needed]
Orphenadrine is also a component of various preparations for use against headaches of various types especially tension and histamine headaches. It is also helpful in many cases of fibromyalgia.[citation needed]
The effect on neuropathic pain, which is also in many cases generated by cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril), atropine, scopolamine, hyoscyamine, trazodone, many first-generation antihistamines, and chemically related drugs like dicyclomine, a.k.a. dicycloverine, (Bentyl), trihexyphenidyl (Artane), first-generation tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline, and other similar drugs, are said by many patients to seem to "help the painkillers find the pain".[citation needed]A direct analgesic effect of orphenadrine comes from relaxing painful muscle spasms as well as central antimuscarinic (atropine-like anticholinergic, see below) action and possibly its local anaesthetic effects.
The adjuvant analgesic effect of orphenadrine is neither antagonised nor directly duplicated by some other drugs used for this purpose, such as baclofen (Lioresal), clonidine (Catapres), gabapentin (Neurontin), and others. Therefore, the effects are largely additive if used in combination (same goes for side effects, however). Such medication protocols need close monitoring by a physician especially when other centrally-acting drugs are being used to treat the pain.[citation needed]Cyclobenzaprine, tricyclic anti-depressants, and antihistamines do have additive side effects. However, there is usually little improvement in the clinically desired effects in that they duplicate and compete with each other in this respect.[citation needed]
Orphenadrine can be used in protocols for treating chronic and/or recurring pain as an alternative to gabapentin (Neurontin) as an adjuvant analgesic for management of chronic pain with a neuropathic component amongst those who cannot tolerate the side effects of gabapentin. This is also the case for patients for whom duloxetine (Cymbalta) is contraindicated. Orphenadrine has fewer side effects than many first-generation anti-depressants, cyclobenzaprine, trazadone, clonidine, and other drugs used in chronic pain states.
