The Clinical journal of pain
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Alexithymia has been shown to be associated with key pain-related variables in persons with chronic pain from western countries, but the generalizability of these findings across cultures has not been examined adequately. Also, there remain questions regarding the importance of alexithymia to patient functioning over and above the effects of the general negative affectivity. ⋯ The findings support the cross-cultural generalizability of significant associations between alexithymia and both pain interference and catastrophizing. However, whether (1) alexithymia influences patient functioning indirectly by its effects on negative affect or (2) the univariate associations found between alexithymia and measures of patient functioning are a byproduct of both being influenced by negative affect needs to be tested using longitudinal and experimental research.
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To evaluate the influence of myofascial pain on the Pressure Pain Threshold (PPT) of masticatory muscles in women with migraine. ⋯ Migraine, especially when accompanied by myofascial pain, reduces the PPT of masticatory muscles, suggesting the importance of masticatory muscle palpation during examination of patients with migraine.
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The world of health care and the world of business have fundamentally different ethical standards. In the past decades, business principles have progressively invaded medical territories, leading to often unanticipated consequences for both patients and providers. ⋯ Ethical dilemmas abound in the treatment of chronic pain patients: many are not even thought about by providers, administrators, insurance companies, or patients. We call for increased pain educational experiences for all types of health care providers and the separation of business concepts from pain-related health care.