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What can be done for those with an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)—Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis? A study published in the journal of Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology “used large-scale sequencing and bioinformatics analysis to compare the gut microbiome of mice that were...
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Is greater pain reduction found with a closed-loop spinal cord stimulator (SCS) vs fixed-output, open-loop SCS system? Worldwise, 7.5% of people have low back pain, some including leg pain. JAMA Neurology reports findings from a study of participants with chronic, intractable back and leg pain for...
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JAMA Neurology reports findings gathered from over 2600 migraine sufferers, aged 18 to 65, from 4 randomized clinical trials. Researchers sought to determine whether erenumab would improve migraine frequency and lessen migraine medication need in those with and without aura. The study notes, “One or...
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After thoracic surgery, chronic neuropathic pain is common—3 months postsurgery, the rate of postthoracotomy pain syndrome (PTPS) is over half; at 6 months, 47%. Symptoms/complications include shooting/burning pain, shocking, and aching pain that can last years. A study published in the Journal of...
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A questionnaire answered by over 1600 cluster headache sufferers (who met the International Classification of Headache Disorders criteria) provided researchers with interesting information. The results, published in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, revealed that:
- Even though pediatric...
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The journal of Anesthesiology featured a special article in which a new concept is presented: a prescription opioid ecosystem. The need for this ecosystem stems from the “opioid paradox” that, even though the past 10 years has seen a drop in opioid prescribing of about 38%, deaths from opioids have...
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Endometriosis. The statistics are awful: globally it affects around 10% of girls/women—that's 190,000,000 people! Many women suffer for years, partly due to a lack of communication. What might help? Better dialogue between patient and practitioner. A study out of England, reported in Frontiers in...
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Chronic back pain (CBP), the most common type of chronic pain, needs better treatment. Does psychological treatment, or pain reprocessing therapy (PRT), help? “PRT seeks to promote patients’ reconceptualization of primary (nociplastic) chronic pain as a brain-generated false alarm.” A study...
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Among its many other issues, chronic pain makes daily living harder. Those with chronic pain—whether from migraine, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, or something else—may not be able to explain why they can’t attend a barbeque, or clean, or read to a child. A woman with lupus, writer Christine...
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A summary of a study that appeared in the journal of Pain Management examines the positives of epidural steroid injections before a patient undergoes the mild®Procedure, or minimally invasive lumbar decompression. The study compared results in patients who received no or 1 injection vs those who...