The Clinical journal of pain
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Comparison of superficial and deep acupuncture in the treatment of lumbar myofascial pain: a double-blind randomized controlled study.
The aim of the study was to compare the therapeutic effect of the superficial and in-depth insertion of acupuncture needles in the treatment of patients with chronic lumbar myofascial pain. ⋯ Clinical results show that deep stimulation has a better analgesic effect when compared with superficial stimulation.
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To investigate integrative thermal perception in a patient with multiple sclerosis. ⋯ The absence of thermal grill-evoked pain is consistent with the hypothesis that in some cases of central pain the loss of the thermosensory pathway results in disruption of the normal cold inhibition of burning pain.
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Comparative Study
A comparison of modality-specific somatosensory changes during menstruation in dysmenorrheic and nondysmenorrheic women.
The objective was to evaluate somatosensory thresholds to a multimodality stimulation regimen applied both within and outside areas of referred menstrual pain in dysmenorrheic women, over four phases of confirmed ovulatory cycles, and to compare them with thresholds in nondysmenorrheic women during menstruation. ⋯ The results show reduced somatosensory pain thresholds during menstruation to heat and pressure stimulation, both within and outside areas of referred menstrual pain in dysmenorrheic women. Dysmenorrheic women showed a lower HPT at the control sites and a lower PPT at all the sites than those for nondysmenorrheic women in the menstrual phase. The altered somatosensory thresholds may be dependent on a spinal mechanism of central hyperexcitability, induced by recurrent moderate to severe menstrual pain.
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The objective was to evaluate whether the Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI) is effective for predicting response to interdisciplinary treatment in a heterogeneous group of patients with chronic pain. Changes in patients' profiles to a predominantly adaptive coping status after treatment also were assessed. ⋯ Although there were major differences in psychosocial functioning before treatment, the MPI was not found to significantly predict response to interdisciplinary treatment in a heterogeneous group of patients with chronic pain. Thus, a comprehensive interdisciplinary treatment program may achieve its full effectiveness across a wide array of pain/disability-related outcome variables, regardless of initial MPI profile categorization.
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The objective of this case series was to determine if severe phantom limb pain could be reduced with oral methadone. ⋯ Administration of oral methadone may be of value in the treatment of phantom limb pain; controlled clinical trials would be appropriate to verify this observation.