•  News 
•  Research 
•  Legislation 
•  Advocacy 
•     Clinical Trials    
•  Books 
•  Lagniappe 

The American Academy of
Pain Management

The American Academy of Pain Management is an inclusive, interdisciplinary/integrative organization serving clinicians who treat people with pain through education, setting standards of care, and advocacy.

•  Studies
•  Stories
•  Policy
•  Rx Diversion
•  Patients
•  Product News/Clinical Trials Results

 Pain Studies In The News

Back pain permanently sidelines soldiers at war
November 4, 2009 Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine
According to a new study, military personnel evacuated out of Iraq and Afghanistan because of back pain are unlikely to return to the line of duty regardless of the treatment they receive. Researchers found that just 13 percent of service members who left their units with back pain as their primary diagnosis eventually returned to duty in the field. Women, officers, those deployed in Afghanistan and those with previous back pain had better outcomes, but only marginally. [Story]

More Pain Studies In The News

Non-Academy News

Florida Academy of Pain Medicine Annual Meeting and Tradeshow
July 16-18, 2010 The Breakers, Palm Beach
[More information]

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See sample article below:

Everything Old is New Again - Interview with Nan Lu, OMD, LAc, by Debra Nelson-Hogan (article)
If you are a member of the Academy, you are entitled to many excellent benefits including The Pain Practitioner, our quarterly magazine. If you are not an Academy member, you can subscribe for just $35 a year!
[Subscribe!]

 Stories

Managing your pain: how to use prescription drugs without becoming addicted
October 26, 2009 Source: U.S.News & World Report
About 20 percent of Americans over age 12 have taken opioids for nonmedical reasons. While abuse potential is real, and stories of prescription opioid addicts can be frightening, chronic pain addiction is relatively rare and these drugs do offer benefits when they are properly prescribed and used. Experts recommend that patients stick with one doctor who can keep tabs on all the pain medications they're taking, as well as other systemic measures to help curb abuse. [Story]

More Pain Stories In The News

 Prescription Addiction, Diversion, and Abuse

NIDA launches new substance abuse resources to help fill gaps in medical education
November 6, 2009 Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
To improve drug abuse and addiction training of future physicians, the National Institute on Drug Abuse today unveiled a series of new teaching tools, through its Centers of Excellence for Physician Information. The new NIDA CoE curriculum resources provide scientifically accurate information on substance abuse, addiction and its consequences to help meet the educational needs of medical students, residents and medical school faculty.
[Story]

Prescription drug buy-back programs help fight prescription drug abuse
October 17, 2009 Source: Atlanta Recovery
The Atlanta Recovery Center of Georgia, along with many local community efforts, has cleaned medicine cabinets of thousands of pounds of un-used, potentially lethal prescription drugs. To combat the rapidly rising trend in prescription drug abuse, the center, in conjunction with local law enforcement, has spearheaded the effort in Georgia to make people more aware of the dangers of prescription drug abuse and educating teens and parents alike. Another idea that is gaining momentum is a "prescription drug buy-back" where sheriff's departments and local communities would "buy back" unused prescription drugs, thus taking them out of circulation.
[Story]

 For Your Patients

AGS Foundation For Health In Aging Tip Sheet about persistent pain in later life, now available in Spanish
October 15, 2009 Source: American Geriatrics Society
The AGS Foundation for Health in Aging (FHA) Tip Sheet about persistent pain is now available in Spanish translation. The pain tips are the first in a series of Spanish language tips, to become available by the FHA. The tips offer Spanish-speaking older adults who suffer from ongoing pain, and their caregivers, advice on getting treatment and relief.
[Story]

 Product News/Clinical Trial Results

Horizon Therapeutics presents Phase 3 study results identifying risk factors for ulcer development among NSAID users
October 26, 2009 Source: Horizon Therapeutics, Inc.
Horizon Therapeutics, Inc. today presented an analysis from two pivotal Phase 3 trials evaluating its lead investigational compound HZT-501, a combination of ibuprofen with high-dose famotidine. Results show that patients with mild-to-moderate pain treated with HZT-501 developed approximately 50 percent fewer NSAID-associated upper GI ulcers compared to patients treated with ibuprofen alone. [Story]

More Product News/Clinical Trial Results

Research Abstracts

Stay up-to-date on the latest research! This section offers complete abstracts on a wide variety of pain and pain management topics that have been selected from the National Library of Medicine.
[All Abstracts]

Some include:

Lera S, Gelman SM, Lopez MJ, et al.
Multidisciplinary treatment of fibromyalgia: does cognitive behavior therapy increase the response to treatment?
Journal of psychosomatic research. 2009 Nov;67(5):433-41.
[Abstract]

Greve KW, Bianchini KJ, Etherton JL, et al.
The Reliable Digit Span test in chronic pain: classification accuracy in detecting malingered pain-related disability.
The Clinical neuropsychologist. 2009 Oct 2:1-16. [forthcoming]
[Abstract]

Derry S, Lloyd R, Moore RA, et al.
Topical capsaicin for chronic neuropathic pain in adults.
Cochrane database of systematic reviews (Online). 2009 Oct 7;(4):CD007393.
[Abstract]

Macpherson C.
Undertreating pain violates ethical principles.
Journal of medical ethics. 2009 Oct;35(10):603-6.
[Abstract]

Rauck RL.
What is the case for prescribing long-acting opioids over short-acting opioids for patients with chronic pain? A critical review.
Pain practice. 2009 Nov-Dec;9(6):468-79.
[Abstract]

More Research Abstracts

Legislative Updates

Branch of Government: Rhode Island. House
Title:H.B. 5479
Summary: Allows practitioners to write up to three (3) separate prescriptions in Schedule II each for up to a one-month supply; limits the number of dosage units that can be prescribed or dispensed at one time to one hundred (100); allows for prescription of a 90 day supply in Schedules IV and V with no more than 360 dosage units to be dispensed at one time
Sponsor: McNamara.
Latest Action: House and Senate concur. To Governor
[full text]

Advocacy

Campaign launches to sound alarm about the misuse of prescription drugs among teens
November 5, 2009 Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration
The National Council on Patient Information and Education, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and representatives from 15 nationally recognized prevention, health professional and child advocacy organizations, are launching Maximizing Your Role as a Teen Influencer: What You Can Do to Help Prevent Teen Prescription Drug Abuse. Prescription drugs are misused more by teenagers than any illicit drug, except marijuana.
[Story]

Clinical Trials

California
Myofascial Pain Syndromes
City: Los Angeles
Summary:A study to measure functional improvement in patients with masticatory myofascial pain injected with lidocaine versus BTX-A.

Florida
Back Pain
City: Bradenton
Summary: A study to assess the clinical application and outcomes with MILD® devices versus epidural steroid injection in patients with symptomatic moderate to severe central canal spinal stenosis.

More New Clinical Trials

New Books

The Neck Pain Handbook : Your Guide to Understanding and Treating Neck Pain
By Grant Cooper, MD, and Alex Visco, MD

Technology provides us with many daily comforts that make our lives easier, and us, more efficient. Unfortunately, it also promotes sedentary lifestyles that often affect our health and wellbeing. Neck pain is a common complaint, especially among office workers, and two-thirds of us will experience it at some point in our lives. Learning how to treat neck pain can make the difference between experiencing temporary discomfort, or dealing with life-long pain that disrupts the way we function and live our lives.

Written by Drs. Grant Cooper and Alex Visco, physical medicine and rehabilitation experts specializing in non-operative treatments of the neck and spine, The Neck Pain Handbook teaches techniques to help eliminate neck pain. Most importantly, readers will learn how to prevent further injury, so that once the pain is gone, it stays gone. The Handbook will teach readers:

• how our lifestyles can cause neck pain
• the importance of good posture
• how to set up your workplace to prevent injury while achieving optimal comfort and support
• a simple and effective 10-minute exercise program that will help to ease or eliminate the pain and keep it from coming back
• medical options when improving posture and simple exercises don't help.

No one needs to be resigned to living with neck pain. The Neck Pain Handbook is an easy-to-use guide that will enable readers to eliminate further discomfort and get on with their lives.

About the Authors
Grant Cooper, MD, is a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician who specializes in the non-operative treatment of the neck, spine, joints, and muscles, as well as nerve pain. Dr. Cooper is the Co-Director of the Princeton Spine and Joint Center in Princeton, NJ. He received his medical degree from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and his residency and fellowship training at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Beth Israel Medical Center, in New York City.

Dr. Cooper has received national and international recognition for his research and publications, and is currently co-editor-in-chief of Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine. His most recent publication is The Arthritis Handbook (DiaMedica, 2008).

He has appeared on ESPN Radio, National Public Radio, and previously hosted his own radio show, "Back Pain Radio" on World Talk Radio. Dr. Cooper is a consultant to Health Central's Osteoarthritis Center and is on the Medical Advisory Board of the CAN DO Fitness Center.

Alex Visco, MD, is a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation specialist, and the founder and medical director of East Coast Spine, Joint, & Sports Medicine in Hoboken, NJ. He specializes in the non-operative care of painful conditions of the spine, joints and muscles, including sports-related injuries. He received his medical degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey—New Jersey Medical School, and his residency at The University Hospitals of Columbia and Cornell in New York City.

About the Series
The DiaMedica Guide to Optinum Wellness Series includes books that deal with issues of overall wellness in the face of disease, aging, and more. Its focus is on nutrition, exercise, psychological well-being, and related issues that affect overall health.

Price: $10.17
[Ordering Information]

Lagniappe

References to anesthesia, pain, and analgesia in the Hippocratic collection.
Anesthesia and analgesia. 2009 Oct 27. [forthcoming]
The Hippocratic Collection, containing 60 medical texts by Hippocrates and his pupils, was searched using the electronic database Thesaurus Lingua Graeca to identify the words "anaesthesia" and "analgesia," their derivatives and also words related to pain. Our purpose was to investigate the special use and meaning of these words and their significance in medical terms.
[Story]

The pain of torture can make the innocent seem guilty
October 26, 2009 Source: Harvard University
A new study finds that the pain of torture can make even the innocent seem guilty. Participants in the study met a woman suspected of cheating to win money. The woman was then "tortured" by having her hand immersed in ice water while study participants listened to the session over an intercom. She never confessed to anything, but the more she suffered during the torture, the guiltier participants perceived her to be.
[Story]