Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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This study aimed to capture day-to-day changes in pain intensity in individuals with low back pain (LBP), which may be indicative of patients' ability to modulate their pain levels. A secondary aim was to explore the presence of latent subgroups characterized by pain level, intraindividual pain variability, and change in pain over a 14-day period. ⋯ These findings provide support that day-to-day changes in pain, coping, and affective responses are meaningful and provide additional evidence of pain variability as a potential phenotypic characteristic.
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Myofascial trigger point diagnosis is a clinical palpatory skill dependent on the patient's subjective response. The inter- and intra-rater reliability of trigger point physical evaluation in the lower leg muscles has rarely been reported. Previous reliability studies suffered from the Kappa paradox. ⋯ Physical examination is a reliable method of trigger point evaluation in lower leg muscles, and it can be used as a diagnostic method for trigger point evaluation.
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The present study had three primary objectives. First, pain trajectory from early childhood to early adolescence were modeled. Second, we examined how early childhood individual-, parental-, and family-level factors predict pain trajectories. Third, we evaluated consequences of pain trajectories in terms of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and substance use at age 16 years. ⋯ Reducing harsh parenting and children's sleep disturbances could be important targets for preventing pediatric pain problems. Children with increasing pain symptoms may also benefit from learning adaptive pain management skills to lower the risk of developing anxiety problems in late adolescence.
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This study explored factors that underpin decisions to seek emergency department (ED) care for chronic noncancer pain in patients identifying as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) or Australian born. ⋯ This study highlights the role contextual factors play in amplifying pain-related distress for CALD and Australian-born patients with chronic pain. The findings support a need for health care providers to recognize features of higher vulnerability and consider streamlining access to available support services.
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To examine the outpatient opioid prescribing practices and the factors associated with opioid prescriptions in patient visits with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). ⋯ One in four adult RA visits resulted in opioid prescriptions, and the opioid visits more than doubled during the study period. Several patient and provider factors were associated with the opioid prescribing among RA visits. Understanding these prescribing practices can help to devise strategies for safe opioid prescribing practices in RA.