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The PAINWeek National Conference has presented many courses teaching the benefits of music therapy. A university in Thailand is promoting a music therapy course, and not just to treat those in pain. Music therapy has helped lower blood pressure, soothe patients during dialysis or chemotherapy, or...
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Researchers in an article published in this month’s BMJ ask, does medical cannabis relieve cancer or noncancer related chronic pain? They examined at around 30 trials with over 5100 patients given oral or topical medical cannabis. Results compared with placebo:
- Noninhaled medical cannabis led to...
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Who is more likely to use cannabis for pain? A study in the journal of Cancer states its findings that, within the past year, 8% of cancer survivors reported using cannabis vs 15% of people without cancer. All those surveyed, whether cancer survivors or not, were more likely to use cannabis if they...
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Exercise Rehabilitation in Veteran Cancer Survivors is a clinical trial from the Baltimore VA Medical Center. It seeks to determine the efficacy of exercise for patients who have survived lung cancer but have neuropathic pain, a common problem after surgery and chemotherapy. “The ultimate goal of...
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A Canadian study at the University of Toronto is looking at the differences in mastectomy pain post-surgery in trans men and cis women. Interestingly, while a large number of cis women—almost 40%—experience persistent pain after a mastectomy, transgender men do not. The latter group also require...
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Findings from the 2002 to 2018 National Health Interview Survey for adults aged 25 to 84 are discouraging. Pain prevalence—for headache/migraine, joint, low back, neck, facial/jaw pain—has gone up, with people reporting a 10% increase of pain in at least 1 area. That equals an additional 10.5...
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An article published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine connects the dots between neuropathic pain caused by chemotherapy and normalization of cholesterol. The article states that “Neuroinflammation is a major component in the transition to and perpetuation of neuropathic pain states.” If...
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A narrative review of minocycline—a 2nd-generation, semi-synthetic tetracycline used as a broad-spectrum antibiotic with anti-inflammatory properties—was performed by researchers evaluating its effectiveness in lessening neuropathic pain. Results were published in the Journal of Pain Research. A...
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Cancer leads to chronic pain for 5 million cancer survivors, and that pain is frequently treated with medication. However, acupuncture treatments may work better, and with fewer potential side effects. An article in JAMA Oncology reports a review of two types of acupuncture: electroacupuncture...
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Chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (CINP) is seen in up to 70% of cancer patients. Unfortunately, there is no effective treatment, and CINP causes many people to terminate their chemotherapy treatments. In a study published in the Journal of Pain Research, mice were separated into 4 test groups...