| Article
We know that chronic pain does have a biological interface. There are structural and functional changes in the brain, such as gray matter loss and a functional reorganization. We also know that chronic pain is associated with systemic effects, such as increased inflammation throughout the body such...
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When we look at things like frequency, intensity, duration, and extent of pain, we’re better able to evaluate the effect on the system and it’s not only affecting the brain, it’s affecting all the stress response systems. There is work that’s showing that we can actually capture this and show that...
| Podcast
Humans have been searching for the Fountain of Youth for millennia. Some people feel that regenerative medicine is that magical fountain while others believe it is a fad. As with many emerging topics, there is curiosity and confusion. While the regenerative medicine field is relatively new to most...
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In 2013, a study led by researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine reported an association between variants in the gene FKBP5 and chronic pain following trauma such as motor vehicle accident or sexual assault. Specifically, they reported, people who possess a variant or...
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I think we’ve been so focused on this opioid crisis that we have forgotten that these are very brittle people who have significant psychiatric co-morbidities, including depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, substance use disorders. I think that suicide is really a silent epidemic that has not been...
| Podcast
New paradigms of patient care postsurgery (such as spinal surgery) utilizing both pre- and postoperative multimodal approaches to analgesia, nonopioid medications specifically, will be discussed. Included in the course will be presurgical and immediate postoperative medications, and both acute and...
| Podcast
Patients with chronic pain are less active than average, exposing them to increasing risks of comorbid conditions, resulting in decreasing functional status for ADLs and low activity ability. This cycle results in low tolerance for physical activities; decreased participation in school, workforce...
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For the last decade or longer, we’ve been talking about the challenges with opioids, and they are a challenging class of drug. On the one hand, they’re great at treating severe levels of pain; they may be the only class of medicine that works for severe pain. But there’s a lot of baggage...
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With respect to treating Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, we have had to deal with almost strict empiricism; people just used what they thought worked and what they were comfortable with. Of course, being a researcher, I was always ‘we need better evidence and more data.’ One of the hurdles against...
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A new retrospective study conducted by researchers from University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City reports that preoperative use of opioids is a significant predictor of continued postoperative opioid use in patients who undergo lumbar spinal fusion surgery. Study author Andrew Pugely, MD...