Pain

Chiropractic Added to Joint Commission Standard on Pain Management

ACA News – January/February 2015 Chiropractic Added to Joint Commission Standard on Pain Management – Lori A. Burkhart THE CHIROPRACTIC PROFESSION GOT OFF TO A GREAT START in 2015 as the Joint Commission revised its pain management standard to include chiropractic services. Clinical experts in pain management who provide input into the commission’s standards affirmed […]

Potential Risk Factors for the Onset of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1

Anesthesiol Res Pract. 2015; 2015: 956539. Published online 2015 Jan 26. doi: 10.1155/2015/956539 PMCID: PMC4321092 Potential Risk Factors for the Onset of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1: A Systematic Literature Review Tracey Pons, Edward A. Shipton, Jonathan Williman, and Roger T. Mulder Abstract Anaesthetists in the acute and chronic pain teams are often involved […]

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Pain Medicine News ISSUE: DECEMBER 2014 | VOLUME: 12(12) Boris Yaguda, MD Story Source Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic, predominantly neuropathic and partly musculoskeletal pain disorder often associated with autonomic disturbances. It is divided into 2 types, reflecting the absence or presence of a nerve injury. Patients with either type may exhibit […]

Massive Research Project Targets Chronic Pain in the Military

Pain Medicine News ISSUE: NOVEMBER 2014 | VOLUME: 12(11) Spanning five years, costing almost $22 million and spread across 13 separate research trials nationwide, several federal agencies are tackling head-on the mounting problem of how to treat chronic pain in the U.S. military without exacerbating the country’s opioid abuse problem. The new research program, spearheaded […]

Chronic Pain Malpractice Claims on the Rise

Caroline Helwick October 16, 2014 NEW ORLEANS — The number of malpractice claims related to chronic pain management is increasing, and many involve permanent disabling injury or death, according to a closed-claims analysis presented here at the American Society of Anesthesiologists 2014 Annual Meeting. “Malpractice claims associated with chronic pain have increased in number and severity over […]

Testing the validity of preventing chronic regional pain syndrome with vitamin C after distal radius fracture

The Journal of Hand Surgery, 09/30/2014  Evidence Based Medicine Clinical Article Malay S, et al. – The number of causal/association criteria met was adequate to support the scientific premise of the effect of vitamin C in preventing CRPS after DRF. Furthermore, vitamin C administration is of relatively low cost and has few complications unless administered […]

Fibromyalgia: Patients Hypersensitive to Nonpain Sensations

Beth Skwarecki September 17, 2014 Story Source Brain scans of patients with fibromyalgia showed that they processed nonpainful stimuli, such as sound and touch, differently than the brains of people without the disorder. This may explain why patients often complain of hypersensitivity to sensations in everyday life, author Marina López-Solà, PhD, from the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at […]

Physical activity fails to show link with chronic musculoskeletal pain

By Lucy Piper, Senior medwireNews Reporter 18 August 2014 J Epidemiol 2014; Advance online publication Story Source medwireNews: Neither little nor excessive physical activity contributes to chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) in people who are middle-aged or older, Japanese study findings suggest. “[O]ur cross-sectional investigation did not detect any significant linear or quadratic associations of PA […]

Pain Education Reduces Medical Costs for Back Surgery Patients [Video]

Guardian Liberty Voice August 18, 2014 Every year, Americans spend at least $50 billion on treating and caring for low back pain, which is the primary cause of job-related disability and missed work hours, according to the National Institute of Health. While back treatments, such as surgery, medicine, exercise, chiropractic care, and alternative health care, […]

Study Suggests Potential Parent–Child Link in Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

POSTED: AUGUST 18, 2014 Children with parents who have chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) are at a higher risk for developing CMP, a new family-linkage study finds. According to researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, CMP is “among the leading causes of reduced quality of life and disability in Western countries,” […]

Ketogenic Diets and Pain – Full Text Article

J Child Neurol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 Aug 7. Published in final edited form as: J Child Neurol. 2013 Aug; 28(8): 993–1001. Published online 2013 May 16. doi: [10.1177/0883073813487595] PMCID: PMC4124736 NIHMSID: NIHMS506894 PMID: 23680946 Susan A. Masino, Ph.D Abstract Ketogenic diets are well-established as a successful anticonvulsant therapy. Based on overlap between […]

Reduced HPA Axis Activity in Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

Reduced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in chronic multi-site musculoskeletal pain: partly masked by depressive and anxiety disorders – Full Text BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 07/15/2014  Evidence Based Medicine Clinical Article Generaal E, et al. – Studies on hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA–axis) function amongst patients with chronic pain show equivocal results and well–controlled cohort studies are rare in this […]

Chronic Pain: When Is It Truly Fibromyalgia? – Slide Show

Patients with fibromyalgia typically suffer for many years—and frequently are exposed to unnecessary, expensive, or invasive interventions—before being properly diagnosed. Do you know how to distinguish this disorder from other conditions that cause chronic pain? Full Story & Slide Show (password is – 3939)

Early Detection of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

Case Study · April 23, 2014 TAKE-HOME MESSAGE This case report suggests that complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), while demonstrating significant neurological symptoms, also is associated with skin abnormalities such as edema and erythema in most patients, as well as dermatitis, erythematous papules, folliculitis, atrophy, ulceration, and bullae in some. Dermatologists should consider a wide […]

Vitamin D and central hypersensitivity in patients with chronic pain

Pain Med. 2014 Sep;15(9):1609-18. doi: 10.1111/pme.12454. Epub 2014 Apr 14. von Känel R1, Müller-Hartmannsgruber V, Kokinogenis G, Egloff N. Abstract BACKGROUND: Low vitamin D is implicated in various chronic pain conditions with, however, inconclusive findings. Vitamin D might play an important role in mechanisms being involved in central processing of evoked pain stimuli but less so for spontaneous clinical […]

Comparative short-term effects of two thoracic spinal manipulation techniques in subjects with chronic mechanical neck pain

A randomized controlled trial Casanova-Méndez A, et al. Man Ther. 2014 Mar 14. pii: S1356-689X(14)00035-6. doi: 10.1016/j.math.2014.03.002. [Epub ahead of print] Abstract Spinal Manipulation (SM) has been purported to decrease pain and improve function in subjects with non-specific neck pain. Previous research has investigated which individuals with non-specific neck pain will be more likely to […]

Chronic Pain and Use of Opioids

Research · March 14, 2014 Full Story Journal Reference TAKE-HOME MESSAGE In this cohort study, 85% of over 14,000 patients who reported chronic nonmalignant pain did not use opioids. Occasional and persistent use was reported in 12% and 3% of patients, respectively. In addition, about 75% of patients who did use opioids reported that their […]

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type I: Incidence and Risk Factors in Patients With Fracture of the Distal Radius

Anis Jellad, MD Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Volume 95, Issue 3 , Pages 487-492, March 2014 Abstract Objective To examine the incidence and predictors of complex regional pain syndrome type I (CRPS I) after fracture of the distal radius. Design Prospective study. Setting University hospital. Participants A consecutive sample of patients (N=90) with […]

Military Pokes Holes In Acupuncture Skeptics’ Theory

NPR by BLAKE FARMER February 16, 201212:01 AM ET LISTEN TO STORY http://youtu.be/F0NJqMVjoKQ In a fluorescent-lit exam room, Col. Rochelle Wasserman sticks ballpoint-size pins in the ears of Sgt. Rick Remalia. Remalia broke his back, hip and pelvis during a rollover caused by a pair of rocket-propelled grenades in Afghanistan. He still walks with a […]

Neuropathic pain: mechanisms and their clinical implications – FULL TEXT ARTICLE

Steven P Cohen BMJ 2014;348:f7656 Abstract Neuropathic pain can develop after nerve injury, when deleterious changes occur in injured neurons and along nociceptive and descending modulatory pathways in the central nervous system. The myriad neurotransmitters and other substances involved in the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain also play a part in other neurobiological disorders. This […]