Case Based Challenges in Acute Pain Management

Acute pain is associated with negative outcomes; therefore, efforts to prevent and control pain are necessary. Goals for acute postoperative pain management include reducing the incidence and severity of pain, particularly that which impacts patient function such as movement; minimizing side effects...

Diagnosis and Treatment of Centralized Pain and Neuroinflammation

Chronic pain may centralize in the spinal cord and brain leaving the patient with constant, neuropathic pain. The mechanism of this development is microglial activation and neuroinflammation. Successful treatment usually requires a special pharmacologic regimen that includes analgesics, neuropathic...

Current Issues Impacting Spinal Manipulative Therapy for Pain

Manual therapy has long been used to treat spinal pain. Spinal manipulative therapy, in particular, has received special emphasis as many providers use it as a featured part of their practice. It has a favorable side effect profile, but there continues to be healthy debate on whether it is an...

Chronic Pain Patients Who Fail Standard Treatment

There is a group of intractable pain patients who have extensively accessed the pain treatment system only to be unable to find satisfactory pain relief. These patients have sought treatment at multiple academic centers and attempted numerous nonmedical, pharmacologic, and invasive interventions...

Overview of Critical Pain Management Practice Issues

Every day something new happens in pain management. One day it might be a change in a licensing board practice standards and the next day might bring new legislation on opioid overdose prevention. Whatever the case, pain management practitioners need a system to help keep themselves and their staff...

Linking into Social Media for Pain Practitioners - Part 2

Social media presents many opportunities for pain practitioners to keep up with the pulse of what is happening in pain practice and pain policy. Thought leaders share valuable information via social media, and social media is one way patients obtain and share information about pain. This session...

The MEDD Myth Practice and Research Implications

For decades, the concept of morphine equivalent daily dosage (MEDD) or some variant thereof has been routinely utilized clinically (eg, for opioid rotation) as well as in research as a dependent variable. However, recently, the concept has been demonstrated to be a scientifically invalid course...

The Use of Viscosupplementation

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the fastest growing major health condition with symptomatic disease affecting approximately 46 million people in the US. Hyaluronic acid gives synovial fluid the viscous quality that helps to lubricate and absorb shock. Joints affected by OA have poorer quality and less...

Virtual Reality and Chronic Pain: The Future has Arrived

Virtual reality (VR) has been used as a pain treatment technique in some settings for decades. However, the cost of the technology has traditionally been out of reach for almost all practitioners. This has changed in the last year as the hardware has become affordable and the possibility of using VR...

The Pressures of Managing Chronic Pain Patients in Clinical Practice

Controversies continue to exist regarding safe and appropriate management of people with chronic pain. The "pendulum has swung in the other direction" with respect to the utility, safety, and efficacy of the use of opioids as a key component of chronic pain treatment. It seems to be unclear to many...