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A report from the University of Michigan Addiction Center raises concern over the lack of education and guidelines on the impact of marijuana use for chronic pain on driving impairment. The study found that 56% of respondents who had used cannabis for pain management had also driven within 2 hours...
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New and disheartening statistics on opioid-related suicide and unintentional overdose deaths have emerged from a review and analysis of data by researchers from the University of Michigan. Writing this month in the New England Journal of Medicine, the team concludes that rates of suicide and...
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A recent study conducted at the Johns Hopkins Sickle Cell Infusion Center highlights the challenges of managing severe pain in some patients with the condition. Researchers found that a subset of patients presenting to the center were more likely to visit the emergency room for crisis pain even when...
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There are a lot of theories about CRPS. There are theories about glial cell involvement, or dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. To my mind, there is a hormonal component because 80 percent of my patients are women. There’s a genetic component because I have seen 18 families where more than...
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A study conducted at Hospital for Special Surgery confirms the efficacy of complementary modalities including meditation and mindful breathing for chronic pain management, according to the authors. The pilot program was undertaken in response to the notation that some 70% of long-term opioid users...
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Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health write that opportunities to advance the use of non-medication alternative therapies for lower back pain are being stymied by unhelpful public and private insurance treatment. In their investigation, the Bloomberg School researchers...
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Practitioners have been outspoken in describing how they feel a lack of confidence in their own abilities to use opioids, in who to use them, and how to use them. If you couple that with their lack of knowledge about the alternatives to opioids, you really have a situation that is bound to fail...
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Researchers from the University of Sydney report encouraging results from the introduction of video games as therapy for chronic lower back pain. The authors write that their findings provide additional support for the use of video games as a treatment modality for back pain, which have previously...
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Conclusions from a double-blind randomized clinical trial suggest that low-dose amitriptyline may be beneficial in the treatment of chronic low back pain. The study found that, although it did not significantly improve patients’ pain levels, use of the antidepressant did reduce disability, and...
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Researchers from the Department of Veterans Affairs in conjunction with an international team have identified 3 novel genetic variants that are associated with increased risk for chronic back pain. The discovery may help to inform a better understanding of the biology of back pain, as well as...