The Clinical journal of pain
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The objective was to present new visual sensorimotor findings in a patient with complex regional pain syndrome type I, formerly known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy. ⋯ The patient manifested signs and symptoms of complex regional pain syndrome type I per the prior neurologic diagnosis, as well as the newly diagnosed accommodative infacility, accommodative insufficiency, convergence insufficiency, and deficits of saccades and pursuits, which were severely debilitating. The findings neither support nor refute the conventional notion of abnormal sympathetic mediation as a mechanism of fatigue and pain. However, the diagnoses of accommodative infacility and insufficiency suggest abnormal parasympathetic activation. Further investigation is needed to characterize the array of visual dysfunctions in a large sample of such patients, which may help elucidate the precise underlying neurologic causes of the sensorimotor deficits in these patients.
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Meralgia paresthetica is a syndrome of pain or dysesthesia or both in the anterolateral thigh, caused by entrapment of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve at the anterior superior iliac spine. The aim of this report is to emphasize that meralgia paresthetica can be confused with low-back pain. ⋯ It is important to be rigorous in investigating the etiology of low-back pain. Meralgia paresthetica can mimic low-back pain because of the similarity of the symptoms. It can be treated by conservative or ablative therapeutic interventions; however, conservative methods should be considered primarily.
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Many juveniles with chronic pain of no known organic cause recover. Because adolescents whose pain persists may have chronic pain as adults, a subsample of 42 adolescents from a prevalence study in which continuation of their pain was observed throughout the study period was investigated quantitatively and qualitatively. All mothers (n = 42) completed a questionnaire on the impact of the adolescent's pain on the family. The authors tested the hypothesis that pain parameters, pain-related quality of life, and impact of pain on the family would deteriorate over time. ⋯ For adolescents with persistent pain with no known organic cause, intensity and frequency of pain, quality of life, and impact of pain on the family did not change. Generally, they seemed to cope quite well with their pain. In view of these results, further studies should involve follow-up of adolescents with persistent pain into adulthood to establish the determinants of their pain and to find out whether they maintain their adaptive ways of living with their pain.
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There are no reports in the literature about patients with painfully restricted temporomandibular joints concerning the reliability of unidimensional and multidimensional pain scales on the basis of a generalizability and decision study. Generalizability and decision studies are designed to aid in reasoned decision-making and therefore are complementary to classic psychometric analyses, in which correlation coefficients express the reliability of a measurement design. The smallest detectable difference as an outcome of the decision study is the smallest statistically significant change that can be detected. ⋯ For statistically and clinically successful treatment of patients with painfully restricted temporomandibular joints, clinicians must overcome at least the smallest detectable difference and 38% of the initial average pain level.
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Comment Letter Comparative Study
Re: McCraken et al., A comparison of blacks and whites seeking treatment for chronic pain. Clin J Pain 2001;17:249-55.