Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain
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Chronic pain is more prevalent in indigenous populations who often prefer traditional remedies over allopathic drugs. Our objective was to investigate the traditional uses of medicinal plants from the Canadian boreal forest for the management of chronic pain syndromes. ⋯ Our study showed the potential of boreal plants as alternative and complementary medicines for the treatment of chronic pain syndromes that could be enhanced by further research on efficacy and safety issues.
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Review the current evidence-based status of pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) treatment for patients with shoulder pain based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to provide a comprehensive analysis and a balanced view of the strengths and weaknesses of this treatment. ⋯ The use of PRF treatment for patients with shoulder pain was observed to result in good clinical efficacy for at least 12 weeks with no complication reported. However, it is still unclear from the currently available publications whether PRF is superior to other treatment techniques such as intra-articular corticosteroid and conventional transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.
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Review the current evidence-based status of pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) treatment for patients with shoulder pain based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to provide a comprehensive analysis and a balanced view of the strengths and weaknesses of this treatment. ⋯ The use of PRF treatment for patients with shoulder pain was observed to result in good clinical efficacy for at least 12 weeks with no complication reported. However, it is still unclear from the currently available publications whether PRF is superior to other treatment techniques such as intra-articular corticosteroid and conventional transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.
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A range of outcome measures across various domains are used to evaluate change following an intervention in clinical trials on chronic neuropathic pain (NeP). However, to capture a real change in the variable of interest, the psychometric properties of a particular measure should demonstrate appropriate methodological quality. Various outcome measures in the domains of pain and physical functioning have been used in the literature for NeP, for which individual properties (eg, reliability/validity) have been reported. To date, there is no definitive synthesis of evidence on the psychometric properties of those outcome measures; thus, the aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the methodological quality [COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) guidelines] of studies that evaluated psychometric properties of pain and physical functioning outcome measures used for NeP. ⋯ Although a variety of pain and physical functioning outcome measures have been reported in the literature, few have demonstrate methodologically strong psychometric properties. Thus, future research is required to further investigate the psychometric properties of existing pain and physical functioning outcome measures used for clinical and research purposes.
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Review Meta Analysis
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Fibromyalgia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a prevalent chronic pain syndrome with few effective therapeutic options available. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an emerging therapeutic alternative for this condition; however, results have been mixed. ⋯ In comparison with sham stimulation, rTMS demonstrated superior effect on the QoL of patients with FM 1 month after starting therapy. However, further studies are needed to determine optimal treatment protocols and to elucidate the mechanisms involved with this effect, which does not seem to be mediated by changes in depression, but that may involve pain modulation. Level of evidence 1b.