Pain
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The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of the pain map as a pain assessment tool in frail nursing home residents. The study was conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, nursing home staff's knowledge of the locations of resident pain complaints was examined. ⋯ Pain extensity also demonstrated modest predictive validity with self-rated health, but not with depression or functional impairment. The advantage of knowing where residents hurt is that this allows staff to target their assessment and thus determine the functional implications of residents' pain. It appears that pain maps add a useful dimension to pain assessment in residents of long term care facilities.
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The ability of athletes to continue to compete despite sustaining painful injury is often interpreted as evidence for the activation of endogenous analgesia mechanisms. However, alterations in perception of noxious stimuli during competition have not yet been systematically investigated. This experiment evaluated experimental pain sensitivity in male and female athletes 2 days before, immediately following, and 2 days after competition. ⋯ Withdrawal latencies to noxious heat also were altered by competition, with finger withdrawal latency decreasing and arm withdrawal latency increasing in most athletes. No changes in pain report were observed across time in non-athlete controls. Competition induces both hyperalgesic and analgesic states that are dependent on the body region tested and pain assessment methodology used.
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Clinical Trial
Multimodal cognitive-behavioural treatment for workers with chronic spinal pain: a matched cohort study with an 18-month follow-up.
An outpatient multimodal cognitive-behavioural treatment program (MMCBT) for chronic spinal pain was evaluated during an 18-month follow-up period. The treatment included a 1-day course for the patients' work supervisors. The aim of the study was to evaluate the long-term effect of the treatment program as well as the effect of a work supervisor-training program on the patients' return to work. ⋯ There is not sufficient statistical support to accept the assumption of MMCBT being superior in reducing sick-leave, either with or without the education of supervisors. Even when supervisors changed their behaviour as reported by the patient, no significant effect was found on patients' return to work. In conclusion, the MMCBT do not seem to be effective in reducing sick-leave compared to no treatment, but the MMCBT program is superior in decreasing pain intensity, enhancing self-reported behavioural changes in personal life and improving pain coping ability at work.
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A new measure of coping, the Pain Coping Questionnaire (PCQ), is presented and validated in two studies of children and adolescents. Factor analyses of data from healthy children and adolescents supported eight hypothesized subscales (information seeking, problem solving, seeking social support, positive self-statements, behavioral distraction, cognitive distraction, externalizing, internalizing/catastrophizing) and three higher-order scales (approach, problem-focused avoidance, emotion-focused avoidance). The subscales and higher-order scales were internally consistent. ⋯ The PCQ is a promising instrument for assessing children's pain coping strategies. The items are simple and relatively few, making it useful for assessing coping across a wide age range. It can be administered to children as young as 8 years of age in approximately 15 min.
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This study investigated sex differences in orofacial pain symptoms in a sample of elderly adults. Furthermore, differences across sex were tested on symptom continuity, overall duration, pain severity, activity reduction, and health care utilization, related to each specific symptom. Telephone interviews were conducted with a stratified random sample of community dwelling older (65+) north Floridians. ⋯ Differences across sex were most likely to be reported for jaw joint pain related variables, suggesting undetermined sex-uniqueness for these symptoms. In contrast to previous studies, older females tended to report lower levels of health care utilization than older males. This is the first study to our knowledge that reports orofacial symptom-specific sex differences among the elderly.