Pain research & management : the journal of the Canadian Pain Society = journal de la société canadienne pour le traitement de la douleur
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The effects of mindfulness-based attention on cold pressor pain in children.
Typical interventions for acute pain in children attempt to reduce pain by directing attention away from pain. Conversely, mindfulness involves devoting attention to one's experience in an accepting and nonjudgmental way. However, the effect that instructing children to mindfully devote attention to acute pain has on pain outcomes is unknown. ⋯ Mindful attention was successful in helping children focus attention on experimental pain without increasing pain intensity or decreasing tolerance compared with a well-established intervention for acute pain reduction.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A controlled investigation of continuing pain education for long-term care staff.
The underassessment and undertreatment of pain in residents of long-term care (LTC) facilities has been well documented. Gaps in staff knowledge and inaccurate beliefs have been identified as contributors. ⋯ Contrary to previous research, the present study found that the interactive PE program was effective in changing pain beliefs and improving knowledge. Continuing PE in LTC has the potential to address knowledge gaps among front-line LTC providers.
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Youth with sickle cell disease (SCD) are commonly hospitalized for treatment of painful vaso-occlusive episodes (VOE). However, limited data are available concerning the course of hospitalization for these children and adolescents and, in particular, whether daily changes occur in pain, emotional status and physical function. ⋯ The results of the present study demonstrated that children made daily improvements in physical function and pain over hospitalization for VOE. Mood was related to changes in pain and physical recovery. Assessment of physical function and mood during hospitalization may help guide strategies to better understand the pain experience in youth with SCD hospitalized with VOE.
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Dynamic mechanical allodynia is traditionally induced by manual brushing of the skin. Brushing force and speed have been shown to influence the intensity of brush-evoked pain. There are still limited data available with respect to the optimal stroke number, length, force, angle and speed. Therefore, an automated brushing device (ABD) was developed, for which brushing angle and speed could be controlled to enable quantitative assessment of dynamic mechanical allodynia. ⋯ A controlled, automatic brushing method can be used for quantitative investigations of allodynic reactions, and is more reliable for quantitative assessment of dynamic mechanical allodynia compared with traditional manual brushing.
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Review
Drugs for chronic pain in children: a commentary on clinical practice and the absence of evidence.
Pediatric chronic pain is widespread, under-recognized and undertreated. Best management usually involves a multimodal approach coordinated by a multidisciplinary team. The present commentary specifically discusses common pharmacological approaches to chronic pain in children, identifies gaps in knowledge and suggests several research directions that would benefit future clinical care.