European journal of pain : EJP
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Heritability and population-specific lifestyle factors are considered to significantly contribute to chronic low back pain (LBP), but traditional population studies fail to (1) adjust for genetics; and (2) use standard and validated definitions for LBP and for lifestyle factors. ⋯ The type, frequency and duration of physical activity may be important to understand risk factors for chronic LBP. The causation path between chronic LBP and people's engagement in activities involving frequent bending and twisting such as gardening and housework should be further investigated.
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There is ample research to support the existence of bias in the perception of others' pain. Both studies involving health-care professionals and student surrogate samples have found that, firstly, pain is under-perceived when using nonverbal cues to gauge another's suffering and, secondly, that personal characteristics of both the viewer and the target (such as gender) can bias pain perception, affecting the allocation of help. However, the extant research shows conflicts about the direction of the bias that target gender exerts on pain perception. Our study aims to address these challenges by examining whether under-perception of pain can be attenuated or exacerbated with gender primes and how target gender affects nonverbal pain perception, in particular. ⋯ These results suggest that gender cues may influence the perception of observed pain and, as a result, clinical decision making. They also support the conjecture that nonverbal pain cues may be under-perceived in women.
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The chronic pain (CP) and chronic multi-site pain (CMP) condition is a highly prevalent health problem. Several studies have reported a high (31-64%) prevalence of co-morbid restless legs syndrome (RLS) in patients with fibromyalgia, one specifically defined form of chronic widespread pain. The current study explored the association between CMP and RLS. ⋯ The prevalence of RLS increased progressively with pain severity and even more sharply with the degree of pain spreading in women recruited from the general population. Both acute and chronic pain was associated with RLS-related symptoms.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Impact of a stepwise protocol for treating pain on pain intensity in nursing home patients with dementia: A cluster randomized trial.
Pain is frequent and distressing in people with dementia, but no randomized controlled trials have evaluated the effect of analgesic treatment on pain intensity as a key outcome. ⋯ Pain medication significantly improved pain in the intervention group, with indications that acetaminophen also improved ADL function.
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Hyperexcitability of the central nervous system (CNS) has been suggested to play an important role in the chronic pain experienced by osteoarthritis (OA) patients. A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines was performed to evaluate the existing evidence from the literature related to the presence of central sensitization (CS) in patients with OA. Electronic databases PubMed and Web of Science were searched to identify relevant articles using pre-defined keywords regarding CS and OA. ⋯ Different subjective and objective parameters considered manifestations of CS, which have been previously reported in other chronic pain conditions such as whiplash or rheumatoid arthritis, were established in subjects with OA pain. Overall results suggest that, although peripheral mechanisms are involved in OA pain, hypersensitivity of the CNS plays a significant role in a subgroup of subjects within this population. Although the majority of the literature provides evidence for the presence of CS in chronic OA pain, clinical identification and treatment of CS in OA is still in its infancy, and future studies with good methodological quality are necessary.