Pain reports
-
Research on learning in placebo and nocebo has relied predominantly on Pavlovian conditioning procedures. Operant learning procedures may more accurately model learning in real-life situations in which placebo and nocebo effects occur. ⋯ Operant learning can change pain expectations, pain modulation, and pain-related avoidance behavior. Persisting pain expectations suggest that acquired pain beliefs may be resistant to disconfirmation, despite self-initiated experience with novel pain-movement contingencies.
-
Genicular nerve radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an intervention to treat patients with chronic knee pain who have failed previous conservative, pharmacologic, and surgical interventions. Vascular complications following interventional procedures of the knee are extremely rare. A delay in diagnosis may be detrimental for the viability of the affected limb and may ultimately require amputation. ⋯ This is the first report describing iatrogenic vascular injury in the knee after a genicular RFA procedure. Pain medicine physicians should be aware of the vascular anatomy of the knee, particularly paying close attention to variations after previous surgeries. Future trials should investigate modalities that minimize vascular complications including concomitant use of ultrasonography with fluoroscopy and other forms of RFA including pulsed or cooled RFA.
-
The field of Internet-based treatments is expanding. However, little is known about placebo effects in online therapeutic settings. The aim of this study was to test if placebo analgesia could be induced via online communication. Exploratory analyses tested if different communication styles (empathetic/neutral) would influence the placebo effect. ⋯ The results in this study suggest that placebo effects can be created even when information about an analgesic treatment is delivered online. This is the first indication of a novel research line that investigates placebo effects in online treatment.
-
Although evidence supports efficacy of treatments that enhance self-management of chronic pain, the efficacy of these treatments has been hypothesized to be influenced by patient readiness for self-management. The Pain Stage of Change Questionnaire (PSOCQ) is a reliable and valid measure of patient readiness to self-manage pain. However, there is not yet a Japanese version of the PSOCQ (PSOCQ-J), which limits our ability to evaluate the role of readiness for pain self-management in function and treatment response in Japanese patients with chronic pain. ⋯ The PSOCQ-J demonstrated adequate psychometric properties in a sample of Japanese patients with chronic pain. This measure can be used to evaluate the role that readiness to self-manage pain may play in adjustment to chronic pain in Japanese pain populations.
-
Hydroxyurea (HU) is a drug that targets the underlying pathophysiology of sickle cell disease (SCD); however, it continues to be an underutilized treatment for adults. Previous research suggests that HU treatment can result in fewer hospital contacts for acute vaso-occlusive pain crises (VOC). Hydroxyurea's impact on non-VOC pain, however, is not well established. ⋯ Findings cautiously suggest that HU acts on pain hypersensitivity and VOC pain, rather than inhibiting pain facilitation and non-VOC pain. These differences may reflect HU's influence on peripheral rather than central sensitization. Future research is warranted to replicate these findings in a larger sample and determine whether early HU administration can prevent peripheral sensitization in SCD individuals.