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The World Health Organization has updated its guidelines for the management of chronic pain in children ages 0 to 19 years, replacing those issued in 2012. Studies suggest that between one-quarter and one-third of children experience chronic pain. WHO states that “Based on the most current...
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Medication and/or psychotherapy does not work for approximately 30% of patients with major depression. How can practitioners help those who are unresponsive? Brain stimulation may help, but for every person with a mental disorder, there may be a different manifestation and potential response to...
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In an article in the journal Scientific Reports, the link between chronic musculoskeletal pain and insomnia is examined. Does chronic musculoskeletal pain predict insomnia? If it does, can it predict the severity of the insomnia? What about other modifiers? The study looked at participant gender and...
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Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is always in the news (read last week's Daily Dose about CLBP and serum biomarkers). Exercise is recommended for CLBP, but what kind of exercise? An article in JAMA Neurology reports a study of various types of exercise and their long-term benefits. In a perfect world,...
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Chronic low back pain has a high prevalence across the globe, affecting millions. In a first of its kind study, researchers looked at patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and assessed blood serum biomarkers. Results published in European Spine Journal highlight modic changes (pathological...
| Podcast
There are many potential underlying causes for neck and upper extremity pain. All too often, only the most common conditions such as a disk herniation or carpal tunnel syndrome are explored.
The purpose of this course is to review other common problems (such as radiculitis), and not so common...
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Bracing statistics from the journal Addiction show that medical marijuana to combat chronic pain has, for some patients, negative consequences. In a group of 527 people—82% white, 49% male, average age 45.6 years—looking to be certified or recertified for medical marijuana it was found that over 40%...
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As outlined in a Journal of Urology article, researchers sought to confirm the theory that pollen is a culprit in flare-ups of chronic pelvic pain. A crossover study, the Multidisciplinary Approach to the study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP), looked at time lines of flare of urologic chronic pelvic...
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In an article in JAMA Network Open, the authors reviewed studies to determine the most successful treatment of frozen shoulder—adhesive capsulitis—a common, painful fibroproliferative tissue fibrosis affecting 2.4 out of 100,000 people per year. The researchers looked at 65 studies and almost 4100...
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An article published in the Annals of Family Medicine journal states that painkillers may not address all aspects of pain, and may add to dysfunction. In their abstract, pain experts Mark Sullivan and Jane Ballantyne, from the University of Washington School of Medicine, state, "The US opioid...