Articles: chronic-pain.
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Growing attention is being given to cognitive-behavioural measures to improve interventions for spinal disorders. The Pain Vigilance and Awareness Questionnaire (PVAQ) has never been validated in Italian subjects with chronic low back pain (LBP). ⋯ The PVAQ was successfully translated into Italian and proved to have satisfactory psychometric properties. Its use is recommended for clinical and research purposes.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Processes of change in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Applied Relaxation for long-standing pain.
The utility of cognitive behavioural (CB) interventions for chronic pain has been supported in numerous studies. This includes Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which has gained increased empirical support. Previous research suggests that improvements in pain catastrophizing and psychological inflexibility are related to improvements in treatment outcome in this type of treatment. Although a few studies have evaluated processes of change in CB-interventions, there is a particular need for mediation analyses that use multiple assessments to model change in mediators and outcome over time, and that incorporate the specified timeline between mediator and outcome in the data analytic model. ⋯ Results add to previous findings illustrating the role of psychological inflexibility as a mediator in ACT.
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Neck pain is a common disabling worldwide health problem with a high socio-economic burden. Changes underlying the transition to, or the maintenance of a chronic state are still barely understood. Increasing evidence suggests that morphological muscle changes, including changes in cross-sectional area (CSA) or fatty infiltration, play a role in chronic neck pain. However, a structured overview of the current evidence of morphological changes is lacking. ⋯ Some evidence is available for changes in muscle morphology, however more high quality prospective and cross-sectional research is needed to confirm these changes and to identify potential underlying causes that need yet to be discovered.
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While a majority of research has focused on adult fibromyalgia (FM), recent evidence has provided insights into the presence and impact of FM in children and adolescents. Commonly referred as juvenile fibromyalgia (JFM), youths, particularly adolescent girls, present with persistent widespread pain and cardinal symptoms observed in adult FM. A majority of youth with JFM continue to experience symptoms into adulthood, which highlights the importance of early recognition and intervention. ⋯ Psychological comorbidities are common but less severe in JFM. Compared to adult FM, approved pharmacological treatments for JFM are lacking, but non-pharmacologic approaches (e.g., cognitive-behavioral therapy and exercise) show promise. A number of conceptual issues still remain including (1) directly comparing similarities and differences in symptoms and (2) identifying shared and unique mechanisms underlying FM in adults and youths.
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Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep · Apr 2016
ReviewAllergic Rhinitis and Chronic Daily Headaches: Is There a Link?
Allergic rhinitis and migraine remain on the list of the most common diseases affecting adults. Migraines and headaches due to allergic rhinitis are easily confused because the symptoms of both conditions often overlap. Both may occur with sinus headache, nasal congestion, and lacrimation and may worsen with weather changes and exposure to allergens. ⋯ Some studies have shown that up to 90 % of sinus headaches are actually migraines. Nevertheless, patients with self-diagnosed sinus headache self-treat or are treated by primary care physicians and/or otolaryngologists with medications for rhinosinusitis, ignoring the neurogenic causes of the symptoms when most of these patients fulfill diagnostic criteria for chronic migraine. Chronic migraine affects 2 % of the general population and has a significant socioeconomic impact on society, incurring health care costs and diminishing quality of life; therefore, the proper diagnosis and treatment of these headache patients should be a priority.