Cream vs pills: which works better for sudden back pain?

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Present to Emergency Department (ED) primary for management of Low Back Pain (LBP), defined as pain originating between the lower border of the scapulae and the upper gluteal folds. Flank pain, that is pain originating from tissues lateral to the paraspinal muscles, will not be included. * Musculoskeletal etiology of low back. Patients with non-musculoskeletal etiologies such as urinary tract infection, ovarian cysts, or influenza like illness will be excluded. The primary clinical diagnosis, at the conclusion of the ED visit, must be a diagnosis consistent with non-traumatic, non-radicular, musculoskeletal LBP. * Patient is to be discharged home. * Age 18-69. Enrollment will be limited to adults younger than 70 years because of the increased risk of adverse medication effects in the elderly. * Non-radicular pain. Patients will be excluded if the pain radiates below the gluteal folds in a radicular pattern. * Pain duration \<2 weeks (336 hours). * Prior to the acute attack of LBP, back pain must occur less frequently than once per month. * Non-traumatic LBP: no substantial and direct trauma to the back within the previous month * Functionally impairing back pain: A baseline score of \> 5 on the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire Exclusion Criteria: * Not available for follow-up * Pregnant * Any analgesic medication use on a daily or near-daily basis * Allergic to or intolerant of investigational medications * Open wounds or skin breakdown of the lower back * Contra-indications to investigational medications: 1) known peptic ulcer disease, chronic dyspepsia, or history of gastrointestinal bleed 2) Severe heart failure (NYHA 2 or worse) 3) Chronic kidney disease (GFR \<60ml/min) 4) Current use of anti-coagulants 5) cirrhosis (Child Pugh A or worse) or hepatitis (transaminases 2x the upper limit of normal)