Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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To study the relationship between tobacco use and pain intensity. ⋯ Pain intensity was highest among daily smokers and those who had quit. Thus, interventions to prevent smoking (to stop smoking and in particular not to start smoking) among people with chronic pain may not only be considered a method to improve health but also to reduce pain.
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One potential consequence of chronic opioid analgesic administration is a paradoxical increase of pain sensitivity over time. Little scientific attention has been given to how cessation of opioid medication affects the hyperalgesic state. In this study, we examined the effects of opioid tapering on pain sensitivity in chronic pain patients. ⋯ These findings suggest that the withdrawal of opioids in a chronic pain sample leads to an acute increase in pain sensitivity.
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Vitamin D inadequacy is associated with medication refractory musculoskeletal pain and neuromuscular dysfunction. This vitamin deficiency could subsist as an unrecognized comorbid condition among patients with chronic pain. The primary objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and clinical correlates of vitamin D inadequacy in patients seeking treatment for chronic pain. ⋯ The prevalence and clinical correlates identified in this pilot study provide the basis for the assertion that vitamin D inadequacy may represent an under-recognized source of nociception and impaired neuromuscular functioning among patients with chronic pain.
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To identify, in community dwelling elders, the determinants of sustained pain improvement or worsening. ⋯ With a 1-month time lag between predictor variable assessment and follow-up pain measures, the study supports temporal associations between depressive symptoms and SRH and subsequent pain change. Clinicians providing care to community dwelling elders are advised to evaluate and attend to both the depressive symptoms and SRH of their patients.
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The block of the obturator nerve is used in pain medicine mostly for the management of acute pain after lower limb surgery or for chronic hip pain. The aim of this study was to define an injection technique based on an anatomical investigation and a magnetic resonance (MRI) analysis. ⋯ Based on the above findings, a technique of block of the obturator nerve could be defined. The method has the potential to enable an efficient and safe identification of the target nerve in clinical practice.