The Clinical journal of pain
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To determine the intercorrelation between subjective disability, as assessed with the Pain Disability Index (PDI) and the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire (ODQ) and their correlation with visual analogue scale (VAS) pain intensity ratings. ⋯ The present results suggest that either the PDI or the percentage score PDI and also the even shorter-to-administer PDI factor 1 may be useful and reliable tests for the assessment of subjective disability in low back pain patients. As noted by the moderate intercorrelations with pain intensity scores, both the PDI and the ODQ address a broader concept of disability than that directly related to pain intensity.
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Psychophysical assessments of orofacial sensory function were performed in order to investigate neurophysiological aspects of the burning mouth syndrome (BMS). ⋯ The presence of abnormal prepain perceptions and disturbances in the perception of nonnociceptive and nociceptive thermal stimuli applied on both pain-affected and normal regions suggest a perceptual deficit unrelated to specific pathophysiological mechanisms in BMS. However, it appears that a psychological explanation of BMS should be used cautiously, as the present results suggest alterations in sensory function.
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This study attempts to clarify the relationship between depression and the cognitions of chronic pain patients. It was hypothesized that the ambiguity and desirability of self-rated traits would significantly predict level of depression. ⋯ Patients with chronic pain are more likely to acknowledge undesirable traits in themselves when they have higher levels of depression when the pain level was controlled. These findings may have important implications for the cognitive-behavioral treatment of chronic pain patients.
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This review tries to consolidate the literature on changes in serotonin and the importance of these changes for understanding headache pathogenesis and determining treatment. A model is presented that integrates previous serotonin studies and offers an explanation for apparent contradictions in the literature. ⋯ Serotonin plays an important role in the pathogenesis of headaches. Changes in serotonin may precede the vascular and muscular changes of migraine and tension-type headaches. The influence of serotonin on headaches explains a number of clinical situations that affect headache activity and the variety of classes of effective headache medications.
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This study examined pain and impairment beliefs [measured with the Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale, (PAIRS)] of chronic low back pain patients during rehabilitation and hypothesized that pain beliefs would be stronger in drop-out subjects, decrease during treatment, and after treatment correlate strongly with disability measures. ⋯ Pain beliefs are of minimal value for predicting treatment compliance, but may be altered during functionally oriented treatment of chronic low back pain. Posttreatment disability closely mirrored attitudes and belief-associated pain and impairment.