Chronic Pain

It has long been suspected that some foods and lifestyle factors can cause painful acute gout attacks. Now, for the first time, researchers have shown that eating tomatoes contributes to the flares.

The number of opioid-related deaths nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2011 in the US; and while that number continues to increase, one state has made positive strides with the implementation of two initiatives.

An 8-week online intervention targeting cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social pain determinants appears to improve pain intensity, pain interference, and pain self-efficacy among participants.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the prescription of OxyContin, an extended-release opioid, for particular pediatric patients.

A new study suggests that pregabalin shows significantly greater improvements in pain-related interference of sleep relative to usual care in patients with chronic low back pain with accompanying neuropathic pain (CLBP-NeP).

For patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), balneotherapy (mineral baths) combined with physical therapy may be more effective than physical therapy alone.

Cardiovascular disease is the most common comorbidity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the reason behind it may have finally been identified.

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is one of the pain conditions that has remained fairly mysterious, but a new, effective treatment may be on the horizon. It is known that CRPS most often develops following trauma, however, and evidence suggests a maladaptive response to nervous system damage involving immune and inflammatory pathways as well as abnormalities in both peripheral and central processing of afferent inputs. No single therapy – including pharmacologic therapy – wholly addresses the condition.

As the population ages and medicine continues to advance, people are living longer and healthier; but they are also taking more medications for more medical conditions. Those medications can cause drug-drug interactions that lead to adverse drug reactions (ADR). Studies have shown that the majority of medication errors happen at the stage of prescription.

A cocktail a day may keep the doctor away when it comes to patients with chronic widespread pain (CWP).

Patients with chronic back and leg pain may be able to forgo the use of prescription painkillers thanks to a new treatment that has been shown to provide long-lasting analgesia.

A recently completed Phase III trial – called PREEMPT – established the efficacy and safety of onabotulinumtoxinA (marketed by Allergan under the brand name Botox®) in treating chronic migraine. Following those results, a new long-term trial is currently underway to analyze some of the clinical questions raised but not answered in PREEMPT.

Study results show that mood, whether positive or negative, may impact the discomfort associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

Does timing really make an impact when it comes to treating back pain? A new study weighed in on the importance early initiation of therapy in this patient population.

Merely being told that a treatment has analgesic effects may be all that a patient needs in order to experience pain relief, a new study suggested.

Opioids have been and continue to be a major source of relief for both chronic and acute pain sufferers. As the use of prescription opioid medications continues to rise, however, so does our knowledge about opioid dependence and opioid poisonings.

A recent study evaluated the potential methods of intra-articular corticosteroid injection in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, the most common chronic rheumatic disease in children.

Patient-controlled analgesia appears to be statistically and clinically superior to standard pain control in emergency department patients with non-traumatic abdominal pain.

Pain is prevalent in 63% of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a recent study, and psychosocial factors may be key contributors to the severity of that pain.

Treatment for patients with chronic migraine is notoriously elusive. Pharmacologic options are few and only two medications-topiramate and onabotulinumtoxin-have shown significant treatment effect in clinical research to date. As with most pain maladies, however, medication isn't the only treatment avenue.

A widely accessible medication commonly used to treat psychiatric disorders may also inhibit the damaging effects of osteoarthritis.

A two-step treatment plan that combines pharmaceutical analgesics, self-management strategies, and cognitive behavioral therapy is associated with greater improvements in pain severity and pain-related disability in veterans compared with usual care.

While it was recently determined that endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER) plays an intricate role in neuropathic pain, a team from Hiroshima University has found another factor that contributes to pain.

Chronic pain is just one of many conditions that may be treated with an innovative stem cell-based therapy, according to researchers at Duke University.

Walking, an activity taken for granted by many, doesn't come easy for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Dutch researchers are trying to change this, and have assessed the most beneficial walking aids, identifying which types work best during daily outdoor walking.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will require manufacturers to update labels in order to red flag possible serious side effects associated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Study results suggest that brain inflammation resulting from chronic nerve pain appears to alter activity in brain regions that regulate mood and motivation. The findings indicate, for the first time, a direct biophysical relationship between long-term pain and the co-morbid anxiety, depression, and substance abuse observed in more than 50% of patients with chronic nerve pain.

Not only have researchers uncovered a key factor that drives neuropathic pain, they have also identified a strategy to reverse it.

Pain and itching may be controlled by cells on the spinal cord, according to research published in Neuron.

A recent study looked at the effect from injections of recombinant human growth hormone (HGH) and testosterone to the painful and dysfunctional areas in patients with chronic lower back pain.