The Clinical journal of pain
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With an increasing prevalence of low back pain, management can include modified work, work-conditioning, or work-hardening programs. Modified work programs, or employer's worksite interventions or clinic-based programs under medical supervision, provide a gradual increase of workload. Work-conditioning programs, or unimodal physical conditioning and function activities, promote return to work. Work-hardening programs, or graded work simulations and psychological interventions, are used as part of an interdisciplinary program addressing physical and functional needs. ⋯ Modified work programs may improve return-to-work rates of workers with work-related injuries for 6 months or longer (level 2). There is inadequate evidence (level 4a) to determine what particular aspects of modified work programs are helpful. Work conditioning and work hardening may or may not improve the return to work of more chronically disabled workers (level 4b).
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Review Case Reports
Chemical sympathectomy for neuropathic pain: does it work? Case report and systematic literature review.
To determine if chemical sympathectomy successfully reduces limb neuropathic pain. ⋯ Based on the case reported and systematic literature review, chemical sympathectomy seems to have at best a temporary effect, limited to cutaneous allodynia. Despite the popularity of chemical sympatholysis, only few patients and poorly defined outcomes are reported in the literature, substantiating the need for well-designed studies on the effectiveness of the procedure.
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Biopsychosocial treatments address the range of physical, psychological, and social components of chronic pain. ⋯ Multimodal biopsychosocial treatments that include cognitive-behavioral and/or behavioral components are effective for chronic low back pain and other musculoskeletal pain for up to 12 months (level 2). There is limited evidence (level 3) that electromyogram feedback is effective for chronic low back pain for up to 3 months. The remaining evidence of longer-term effectiveness and of effectiveness of other interventions was inadequate (level 4a) or contradictory (level 4b). Future studies of cognitive-behavioral treatments should be condition specific, rather than include patients with different pain conditions.
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This study examined the effects of peripheral nerve block with high-concentration tetracaine for the management of trigeminal neuralgia, and evaluated sensory function by measuring the postblock current perception threshold. ⋯ Peripheral nerve block with high-concentration tetracaine is a relatively safe and useful technique in the management of trigeminal neuralgia, particularly among older patients and those with systemic problems.
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The purpose of this review was to determine how effective acupuncture, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, acupuncture-like transcutaneous nerve stimulation, laser therapy, electrical nerve stimulation, and neuroreflexotherapy are in the management of chronic pain. ⋯ In general, the evidence was contradictory or inadequate, reflecting poor study methodologies. No positive conclusion could be reached for acupuncture, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, acupuncture-like transcutaneous nerve stimulation, laser therapy, or neuroreflexotherapy. A single randomized controlled trial provided limited evidence (level 3) that electrical nerve stimulation is effective for pain relief in myofascial pain syndrome for up to 4 weeks, but further study in humans is needed. Future randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews should include subgroup analyses of sham acupuncture and inert placebos as controls.