Pain research & management : the journal of the Canadian Pain Society = journal de la société canadienne pour le traitement de la douleur
-
Mixed associations have been observed between various aspects of 'social support' and patient pain experiences. ⋯ Further research that incorporates quantitative and qualitative assessments of patient pain functioning is warranted to better understand how objective and subjective characteristics of patients' home-living environment may inform the development of more individualized pain treatment options for patients with differing social circumstances.
-
Although research has demonstrated that Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) for chronic pain helps with adjustment to pain, it remains unclear how this treatment option would initially be perceived by individuals with chronic pain. ⋯ Combined with previous research on treatment efficacy of ICBT for chronic pain, the results should serve to stimulate further research on integrating ICBT within existing health care services.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Exposure to virtual social stimuli modulates subjective pain reports.
Contextual factors, including the gender of researchers, influence experimental and patient pain reports. It is currently not known how social stimuli influence pain percepts, nor which types of sensory modalities of communication, such as auditory, visual or olfactory cues associated with person perception and gender processing, produce these effects. ⋯ Further research on how contextual factors, such as the vocal properties of health care examiners and exposure to background voices, may influence momentary pain perception is necessary for creating more standardized methods for measuring patient pain reports in clinical settings.
-
Thousands of children undergo surgery each year, and a shift toward same-day surgeries and decreased lengths of hospital stay results in parents being increasingly responsible for their child's postoperative care. Recent studies have tested interventions designed to improve parent management of their children's postoperative pain at home, but progress in this area has been limited by a lack of synthesis of these findings. ⋯ Results of trials investigating interventions to improve parent management of their children's postoperative pain at home were modest. Future studies should further examine barriers and facilitators to pain management to design more effective interventions.
-
Various forms of sympathetic chain neurolysis (sympathectomy) have, at one time or another, held promise as effective treatment options for complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Complications, such as worsening pain and the development of new pain syndromes, have prevented sympathectomy from emerging as a standard intervention. In an effort to avoid poor outcomes associated with neurolysis, pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) has been proposed as a potential treatment alternative for a number of chronic neuropathic pain states, including some forms of CRPS. ⋯ PRF lesioning of the lumbar sympathetic chain can be an effective treatment for patients with CRPS type I of the lower extremity, with the potential to provide ≥6 months of substantial pain relief.