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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Chronic pain clinics have been created because of the increasing recognition of chronic pain as a very common, debilitating condition that requires specialized care. Neuropathic pain (NeP) is a multifaceted, specialized form of chronic pain that often requires input from multiple disciplines for assessment and management. ⋯ Despite the limitations of performing a real-world, uncontrolled study, patients with NeP benefit from enrollment in a small interdisciplinary clinic. Education and a complete diagnostic evaluation are hypothesized to lead to improvements in anxiety and, subsequently, pain severity. Questions remain regarding the long-term maintenance of these improvements and the optimal structure of specialized pain clinics.
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The present study was set in the context of verbal pain expression in children and concerns, more exactly, the qualitative dimension of painful sensations. ⋯ The results emphasize the central role of analogical reasoning in the verbal expression of pain, showing that the level of cognitive development is not an a priori determinant variable for qualifying pain.
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To examine the relationship between diet and lifestyle, and chronic widespread pain (CWP). If persons with CWP have dietary and lifestyle habits consistent with an increased risk of cancer or cardiovascular disease, it may partially explain evidence in the literature suggesting an association between CWP and these diseases. ⋯ The findings for smoking, body mass index and (for women) diet offer support for the hypothesis that lifestyle factors may partially explain the association between CWP and cancer or cardiovascular disease. Prospective studies are necessary to confirm this relationship.
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Several studies have shown that patients often receive inadequate treatment of postoperative pain. The aim of the present descriptive study was to examine and analyze various data related to the postoperative pain assessment of 40 patients who underwent elective surgery. Pain journals were to be completed by patients during every waking hour for the first three postoperative days to assess both pain intensity and pain unpleasantness. ⋯ In addition, when nurses assessed and documented postoperative pain using a numerical scale, their results were very different from patients' assessments. For the first postoperative day, the mean (± SD) pain intensity documented by nurses on a 0 to 10 numerical scale was 1.57±0.23, while the mean pain intensity noted by patients using the same scale was 3.82±0.41. Statistical analysis showed that there was no significant correlation between mean pain intensity documented by nurses and the mean pain intensity noted by patients.