Pain Studies In The News

Music, instrument based therapies ease children's cancer pain
Source: Medical News Today
According to a new analysis, music and instrument based therapies appear to have incredible effects on cancer patients' pain levels, mood, and certain vital signs such as blood pressure. This may lead the way to an addition to standard treatment practices and a complement to medication doses alone. Measured via targeted questionnaires, both the sessions with music therapists and the prerecorded music reduced patients' anxiety levels and improved quality of life, better than the standard treatments.
[Story]

Chondroitin sulfate improves hand function, relieves morning stiffness caused by osteoarthritis, study finds
Source: Wiley-Blackwell
New research shows that chondroitin sulfate significantly decreased pain and improved hand function in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the hand compared with those in the placebo group. Results also show that chondroitin sulfate improves grip strength and relieves morning stiffness.
[Story]

NSAID use linked to miscarriage
September 6, 2011 Source: CMAJ
In a recent study, women who had a spontaneous abortion after at least 20 weeks gestation were more than twice as likely to have taken NSAIDs as controls matched by pregnancy date. Women who took diclofenac had the highest odds ratio for spontaneous abortion, whereas users of rofecoxib had the lowest risk. The authors found no association between spontaneous abortion and NSAID dosage.
[Story]

Pain relief can now be based on solid evidence
September 6, 2011 Source: Wiley-Blackwell
A Cochrane Review of data relating to about 45,000 patients involved in approximately 350 individual studies has provided an evaluation of the effect you can expect to get if you take commonly used painkillers at specific doses. The review also identifies pain killers for which there is only poor or no reliable evidence. This review will help doctors and patients to make evidence informed decisions of which pain killers to use.
[Story]

Pain relievers calm dementia patients, study shows
September 6, 2011 Source: The Research Council of Norway
Many dementia patients are being treated with antipsychotic medications, but a new study shows that simple pain relievers may be a better alternative. Nearly one in five patients in the study became significantly less agitated and aggressive after treatment with painkillers. This improvement is significantly greater than would be expected from treatment with antipsychotics.
[Story]

Higher body fat linked to increased back pain
September 1, 2011 Source: Wolters Kluwer Health: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Increased back pain among people who are overweight or obese is specifically related to increased body fat content, reports a new study. The results showed that heavier people had higher levels of back pain intensity. For each five-unit increase in body mass index (BMI)—equivalent to the difference between being classified as overweight or obese—the odds of high-intensity back pain increased by 35 percent.


[Story]

Physical activity goals can greatly benefit lives of RA patients
August 25, 2011 Source: Medical News Today
According to a new investigation, physical activity goals are more likely to be achieved if the patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has a higher level of self-efficacy for physical activity. Achievement of physical activity goals is linked with lower self-reported arthritis pains and increased health-related quality of life (HRQOL).
[Story]

Nasal administration may enhance response to pain medications
August 23, 2011 Source: International Anesthesia Research Society
A simple new approach to nasal drug administration may allow morphine and other strong pain medications to be targeted directly to the central nervous system (CNS), reports a new study. Experiments in rats showed significantly enhanced effects of morphine delivered through a pressurized olfactory device (POD). Unlike other methods of drug administration, the POD showed evidence of a direct "nose-to-CNS" transport mechanism.
[Story]

Smoking linked with chronic pain
August 23, 2011 Source: American Pain Society
Smokers are much more likely to report problems with persistent musculoskeletal pain than non-smokers, according to a new study. Daily smokers were two times more likely to report pain than non smokers. Those who smoke a pack or more a day also were most likely to report a high burden of chronic pain.
[Story]

Headaches are common in year following traumatic brain injury, especially among females
August 19, 2011 Source: AlphaGalileo Foundation
Recurring headaches are common during the year following a traumatic brain injury (TBI), regardless of the severity of the TBI, and they tend to occur more often among females and those with a pre-TBI history of headache, according to a new article. In a multi-center study, more than 70% of patients who had suffered a TBI reported having headaches during the first year after their injury.
[Story]

Carpal tunnel syndrome patients prefer to share decision-making with their physicians
August 10, 2011 Source: Medical News Today
Patients receiving treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) prefer to play a more collaborative role when it comes to making decisions about their medical or surgical care, according to a new study. Specifically, patients were more likely to assume an active role in the decision-making process if they had undergone one or more previous surgical procedures, had a caregiver, or had additional private insurance to help defray treatment costs.
[Story]

Arthritis sufferers are not engaging in physical activity critical to their health
August 10, 2011 Source: Northwestern University
Being physically active is one of best ways people with arthritis can improve their health, but a new study that more than half of women and 40 percent of men with arthritis are virtually couch potatoes. The study found that fewer than one in seven men and one in 12 women met those guidelines when we had this objective measure, using the accelerometer
[Story]

Curry spice offers hope for tendinitis pain
August 9, 2011 Source: WebMD Health News
Curcumin, which gives the curry spice turmeric its bright yellow color, could be helpful in treating painful inflammatory conditions, such as tendinitis and arthritis, according to researchers. Recent studies show that curcumin has successfully been used under experimental conditions to suppress inflammation in tendon diseases.
[Story]

Large study: frequent nausea worsens migraine severity
August 2011 Source: Pain Medicine News
A new study indicates that nausea could severely impair patients with episodic migraine, particularly those with frequent nausea. Overall, women suffering from episodic migraine headaches were much more likely than men to have high-frequency nausea and blacks and Asians had significantly lower odds than whites of having high-frequency nausea.
[Story]

The American Academy of Pain Management is the nation's largest interdisciplinary/integrative organization serving clinicians
who treat people with pain through education, setting standards of care, and advocacy.
© 2011 American Academy of Pain Management