The Clinical journal of pain
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Comparative Study
Hypogonadism in Men With Chronic Pain Linked to the Use of Long-acting Rather Than Short-acting Opioids.
There is a need to elucidate the variables associated with testosterone suppression among men on daily opioid therapy for chronic pain. ⋯ Among a contemporary sample of men receiving chronic daily opioids, we found a high prevalence of hypogonadism associated with duration of action, but not with total daily dose of the opioid.
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Multicenter Study
Construct and Predictive Validity of the Chronic Pain Grade in Workers With Chronic Work-related Upper-extremity Disorders.
To evaluate the ability of Chronic Pain Grade (CPG) questionnaire to predict upper-extremity physical disability, at-work disability, and work status in workers with chronic work-related upper-limb injuries. ⋯ CPG has low to moderate ability to predict 6-month work status in patients with chronic upper-extremity disorders. Both a lack of CPG and work transition variability may have contributed to this finding. Extension of the upper end of CPG range might be investigated as a means to increase discrimination at the upper end spectrum of chronic pain, which predominate the population of patients with chronic musculoskeletal disorders.
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To investigate the relation between localized pressure pain sensitivity and the amplitude and specificity of semispinalis cervicis muscle activity in patients with chronic neck pain. ⋯ In contrast to asymptomatic individuals, the semispinalis cervicis muscle displays reduced and less-defined EMG activity during a multidirectional isometric contraction in patients with chronic neck pain. The altered behavior of the semispinalis cervicis is weakly associated to pressure pain sensitivity.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Pain Physiology Education Improves Health Status and Endogenous Pain Inhibition in Fibromyalgia: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.
There is evidence that education on pain physiology can have positive effects on pain, disability, and catastrophization in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain disorders. A double-blind randomized controlled trial (RCT) was performed to examine whether intensive pain physiology education is also effective in fibromyalgia (FM) patients, and whether it is able to influence the impaired endogenous pain inhibition of these patients. ⋯ These results suggest that FM patients are able to understand and remember the complex material about pain physiology. Pain physiology education seems to be a useful component in the treatment of FM patients as it improves health status and endogenous pain inhibition in the long term.
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Catheterization to measure bladder sensitivity is aversive and hinders human participation in visceral sensory research. Therefore, we sought to characterize the reliability of sonographically estimated female bladder sensory thresholds. To demonstrate this technique's usefulness, we examined the effects of self-reported dysmenorrhea on bladder pain thresholds. ⋯ Sonographic estimates of bladder sensory thresholds were reproducible and reliable. In these healthy volunteers, dysmenorrhea was associated with increased bladder pain and urgency during filling but unrelated to capacity. Plausibly, women with dysmenorrhea may exhibit enhanced visceral mechanosensitivity, increasing their risk to develop chronic bladder pain syndromes.