The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society
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Twenty percent of individuals experience chronic pain worldwide posing significant challenges to those living with it. Pain research is crucial for developing and characterizing effective strategies to reduce the burden of chronic pain. Traditional research approaches often yield homogeneous study samples that poorly generalize and have unknown applicability across diverse patient populations. ⋯ PERSPECTIVE: The PROGRESS study demonstrates how diverse patient engagement and inclusive advisory boards enhance research outcomes. By aligning with PCORI standards and employing innovative recruitment strategies, it highlights the vital role of stakeholder relationships and diverse perspectives. Key lessons learned emphasize adaptive strategies and continuous feedback for advancing equitable pain research.
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Pain is the most common reason to seek healthcare, however pain teaching is often not prominent in medical school curricula. This project reviewed an existing medical curriculum to develop a comprehensive pain curriculum that consolidated pain learning across a medical degree delivered on geographically-distinct campuses, looking to provide contemporary pain learning that was culturally appropriate in a local context. A cross-campus, interdisciplinary pain working group (PWG) was established to work across the two program stages (pre-clinical, clinical) and three clinical campuses. ⋯ PERSPECTIVE: A comprehensive pain curriculum was developed across a multi-campus medical school setting. Through a three-phase project, existing pain competencies were reviewed and new target competencies developed, including those specific to local Indigenous communities. Findings highlight the importance of ensuring contemporary curricula include pain learning that is culturally focused and relevant.
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Subgroup analyses conducted among U. S. national survey data have estimated that 27 to 34% of adults aged ≥65 years have chronic pain. However, none of these studies focused specifically on older adults or examined disparities in chronic pain in those aged ≥65 years. ⋯ PERSPECTIVE: This study was the first to estimate the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of chronic pain among a large, representative sample of U. S. older adults. The findings underscore the high prevalence of chronic pain and highlight disparities in chronic pain prevalence rates among this historically understudied population.
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Numerous cultural adaptations of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia 11-item version (TSK-11) scale have emerged since the original version was introduced. We conducted a (COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments) COSMIN-informed systematic review of measurement properties to identify the cross-cultural adaptation of the TSK-11 and report, critically appraise, and systematize its measurement properties. Six databases were searched for studies published since 2005. ⋯ PERSPECTIVE: This article presents the measurement properties of the cross-cultural adaptations of the TSK-11. Clinicians should be aware that cultural and clinical aspects may influence the structural validity of the questionnaire. Using the TSK-11 as a stand-alone instrument may omit relevant clinical progression in the patient's condition.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Temporal Summation but not Expectations of Pain Relief Predict Response to Acupuncture Treatment in Fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a common chronic pain condition for which acupuncture treatment is increasingly utilized. However, there is no universally accepted measure to predict whether a specific patient will benefit from acupuncture. This is a single-center, single-blind, sham-controlled, randomized, noncrossover, longitudinal trial of 76 subjects with FM, assigned to either electroacupuncture (EA) or a placebo control, mock laser (ML) acupuncture. ⋯ Our results support using a quantitative sensory testing metric, temporal summation of pain, but not expectations, to predict analgesia following acupuncture treatment for pain. PERSPECTIVE: A randomized study of acupuncture in FM found baseline temporal summation, but not expectations of pain relief, to be predictive of treatment response. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registered under ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02064296.