Pain Studies In The News

To help doctors and patients, researchers are developing a 'vocabulary of pain'
Source: University at Buffalo
All over the world, patients with chronic pain struggle to express how they feel to the doctors and health-care providers who are trying to understand and treat them. Werner Ceusters, a University at Buffalo psychiatrist, believes that people don't have the same vocabulary or linguistic capabilities or even the same cultural backgrounds. Since this is something pain researchers have struggled with for decades, he feels that the development of a 'vocabulary of pain' is imperative.
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Shedding new light on prediction of spinal disc degeneration
August 7, 2011 Source: Medical News Today
About 80% of the active population suffers from low back pain at some point in their lives. In a new paper, researchers show that overloading on already degenerated discs is less damaging than on discs which are still healthy - and that changes in cell density in discs are fundamental to the process of disc degeneration.
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Why knee osteoarthritis afflicts more women than men
August 3, 2011 Source: Mayo Clinic
A novel study will explore whether the nagging pain and inflammation that women can experience in their knees is different from what men encounter. While the underlying mechanisms for differences in knee osteoarthritis between men and women are not yet known, recent studies have indicated sex differences at the cellular and molecular levels that may influence development of the disease.
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Study questions combining analgesics for knee pain
August 3, 2011 Source: Family Practice News
Combining ibuprofen and paracetamol at nonprescription doses conferred a modest improvement in pain relief in adults with knee pain/osteoarthritis. But this gain came at the expense of an increase in presumed gastrointestinal bleeding, results from a large randomized, controlled trial demonstrated.
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Chronic pain and stress reduced by group wellness programs
August 3, 2011 Source: Henry Ford Health System
A group wellness program has been shown to significantly relieve pain and stress, and improve stress-related chronic illnesses, according to researchers. Additionally, researchers looked at more than 1,400 program participants since 2007 and found that 76% of chronic pain conditions were improved, 74% of participants reduced their stress, and 70% of participants were able to eliminate the need for and use of pain medications.
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Study shows unique characteristics of acute vs. chronic low back pain
July 29, 2011 Source: American Pain Society
Researchers investigated differences in pain characteristics between sub-acute back pain and chronic back pain and their relationship to pain intensity. The common differentiation for distinguishing types of low back pain are: acute pain lasting less than six weeks, sub-acute pain with duration of seven to 12 weeks and chronic pain lasting three months or longer. Results showed that pain intensity was significantly higher in the chronic low back patients.
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New therapy may help people with unexplained symptoms of pain, weakness and fatigue
July 28, 2011 Source: American Academy of Neurology
A new type of therapy may help people with symptoms such as pain, weakness, or dizziness that can't be explained by an underlying disease, according to a new study. After three months, the people who received cognitive behavioral therapy were approximately twice as likely to report improvements in their overall health as those who did not receive the extra therapy. A total of 13 percent more people who received the extra therapy reported that their health was "better" or "much better" than those who received only their usual care.
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Got the gout? Self reported cases show increase in prevalence
July 28, 2011 Source: Medical News Today
Eight million Americans, almost 6% of men and 2% of women have got the gout, a painful affliction in which uric acid crystals are deposited in the joints. In a self reported survey, the prevalence of gout continues to climb along with rates of related conditions such as hypertension and metabolic syndrome, reaching 3.9% in 2008, according to a new study released this week.
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Multi-disciplinary, evidence-based process for hospital-based standardized spine care results in minimized lower back pain and treatment costs
July 27, 2011 Source: Foundation for Chiropractic Progress
The use of a patient-centered multi-disciplinary Spine Care Pathway (SCP) helped to minimize lower back pain (LBP) and the associated treatment costs, according to a recent study. Patients achieved successful treatment outcomes in an average of just 5.2 visits at the extremely low cost of only $302 per case, while maintaining a patient satisfaction rate above 95 percent. Self-reported pain and disability scores were reduced by about 70% in only a few weeks.
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Vitamin D relieves joint, muscle pain for breast cancer patients
July 26, 2011 Source: Washington University in St. Louis
Vitamin D relieves joint and muscle pain for many breast cancer patients taking estrogen-lowering drugs, according to a new study. The results show that patients receiving high-dose vitamin D every week reported significantly less musculoskeletal pain and also were less likely to experience pain that interfered with daily living.
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Avandia may help prevent neuropathic pain
July 25, 2011 Source: International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS)
The diabetes drug rosiglitazone (Avandia) can control inflammation leading to nerve damage and abnormal pain responses, suggests a new journal paper. Treatment with rosiglitazone after nerve injury reduced the development of "tactile allodynia"—painful responses to stimuli (such as light touching) that are not normally painful. Rosiglitazone also led to decreased inflammation in the area of nerve injury, as shown by reduced levels of various inflammatory markers.
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Chronic pain in homeless people not managed well, study finds; almost half reported using street drugs to treat their pain
July 21, 2011 Source: St. Michael's Hospital
Chronic pain is not managed well in the general population and it's an even greater challenge for homeless people, according to new research. Of the 152 residents of homeless shelters with chronic pain studied, more than one-third (37 per cent) had Chronic Pain Grade IV, the highest level, indicating high intensity and high disability. Almost half the participants (46 per cent) reported using street drugs to treat their pain and 29 per cent used alcohol.
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Therapy adds life, lessens pain in brain cancer patients
July 15, 2011 Source: University of California
Approximately five to ten percent of patients with primary or metastatic cancer suffer from devastating neurological complications such as headaches, seizures, confusion, difficulty swallowing and visual disturbances. Researchers have utilized a novel combined technique to treat cancer patients by bathing the brain in chemotherapy and relieving pressure from spinal fluid build-up (hydrocephalus). The results show that this aggressive option can dramatically improve function and survival for select patients.
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Certain painkillers may raise odds of stroke, heart attack: study
July 14, 2011 Source: The American Journal of Medicine
Heart disease patients with high blood pressure who take a class of painkillers called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are at greater risk for heart attack, stroke or even death, a new study shows. Patients with high blood pressure and coronary artery disease who took NSAIDs regularly had a 47 percent increase in the rate of death as well as nonfatal heart attack and stroke. After a period of five years, those rates jumped to 126 percent for death and 66 percent for heart attack.
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Experts: screen chronic pain patients for anger
July 2011 Source: Pain Medicine News
Significantly higher levels of acute and chronic anger have been found in patients with chronic pain compared with non-pain patients and pain patients in the general community, prompting researchers to call for anger screening in all patients with chronic pain. The results of the new study also show that these patients have significantly higher levels of acute and chronic anger than do patients with acute pain.
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who treat people with pain through education, setting standards of care, and advocacy.
© 2011 American Academy of Pain Management