Chronic Pain

With doctors having busy schedules to begin with it can be difficult to help patients who may have an addiction or issue with opioids. Taking a few extra minutes can sometimes make all the difference in helping these vulnerable patients avoid a much worse scenario.

As if hours of childbirth aren’t grueling enough, pain is one of the most common postpartum complaints from women in the United States. However, New York-based physicians found that osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) eases pain and treats tissue abnormalities in this population.

A new study out of Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) is the first to show a direct link between pain level and risk of opioid addiction – and the increased risk is substantial.

Pain management remains to be a challenging area for clinicians, nurses, and medical residents – and it doesn't matter how long they've been in the field.

Survey results suggest nearly one-half of parents whose child had leftover prescription opioids following a surgery or for an illness keep the pain medication in the home.

The Pain Beliefs Questionnaire (PBQ) has proven to be effective as a 32-item survey, but researchers found it is still reliable when cut down to 18 items.

Prescription drug policies are designed to curb overdose deaths, but at the same time they could be hurting patients who really need the medications.

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has proven its safety and efficacy in many trials, but data backing subtypes of the treatment are lacking.

Although patients commonly take opioids to relieve chronic back pain, there is no concrete evidence supporting this strategy.

The impact of social touch, or segmental tactile stimulation, has been explored in that past, but the underlying mechanism is far from fully understood.

About 15% of complex postoperative pain patients end up developing moderate to severe chronic pain, becoming disabled, and using opioids long-term, according to a new study in the journal Pain Management.

While looking to find ways to treat patients with pain beyond opioids a considerable amount of research has been done looking at alternative medications and treatments that can provide relief without the potential risks of addiction.

In the struggle against the growing opioid epidemic the CDC recently announced new guidelines aimed at helping guide doctors on when to prescribe this form of medication and what other steps can be done to help patients.

Parents pass down hair color, eye color, risk of health problems, and many other traits to their children – but what about a condition without any real biomarker or physical appearance?

You may have seen reports on the “treatment” on TV or heard that some of Beverley Hills’ richest citizens are raving about it, but whole body cryotherapy (WBC) doesn’t yet have the data to back up the many health benefits claimed by its boosters.

Medical sternotomy is a highly accessible route of entry into the chest cavity but apt to introduce infectious microbes.

This probably won’t come as shocking news, but long-acting opioids significantly increase the risk of death compared to other pain therapy options.

A University of Queensland (Australia) researcher appears to have overcome a substantial hurdle in harnessing the potential of marine snail venom as a means for pain medicine.

Researchers reported that reawakened astrocytes appear to be a key trigger for S1 cortex (the remote region of the brain that is not directly affected by spinal cord injury) circuit rewiring and may contribute to sustained neuropathic mechanical allodynia.

Research indicates that spinal cord stimulation appears to reduce the affective component of pain, resulting in optimal pain relief.

It turns out that your social network has more to do with just the likelihood of having plans on a Friday night. People with fewer friends have a lower pain tolerance, according to new research from Oxford University in England.

An oxycodone (Xtampza) extended-release (ER) product is the newest opioid soon to be on the market for chronic pain.

As more states across the country legalize marijuana in a variety of forms the usefulness of cannabinoids as a treatment method for people with neuropathic pain remains a question that many studies have explored.

Researchers report that mindfulness meditation—unlike other cognitive-based approaches to reduce pain, such as hypnosis, acupuncture, distraction, and even the placebo effect—does not appear to utilize the endogenous opioid system to reduce pain.

New research suggests that sleep problems may be a target for treatment of "emerging adults" with musculoskeletal pain complaints. Sleep issues in this patient group predicted chronic pain and worsening pain severity over time.

Study results confirm that anxiety and depression before surgery can significantly influence the amount of pain a patient feels after surgery, adding to the evidence that the subjective experience of pain is worth considering, both before and after a pain intervention.

Research indicates that both mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) appear to achieve greater improvements in back pain and functional limitations at 26 weeks, when compared with usual care, among adults with chronic low back pain.

Several patients suffering from obesity reported vast improvements in pain, physical function, and walking capacity after undergoing bariatric surgery, according to new research in JAMA.

Half of diabetic patients experience diabetic neuropathies, and the total number of cases will increase annually alongside the ever-increasing diabetes incidence rate.

Pain medicines in combination with metal ions can work to fight chemo-resistant cancer.