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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Clinical Trial
The Application of Radiofrequency Waves in Supportive Treatment of Temporomandibular Disorders.
In recent years, the number of patients applying for prosthetic treatment due to temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) has been increasing. The main methods for treating disorders are the use of occlusal splints and physiotherapeutic rehabilitation as supportive treatment. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves with radiation frequency between 3 Hz and 3 THz, used for physiotherapeutic treatment of skeletal muscle relaxation in the range of 3 to 6 MHz. ⋯ The results of our own research clearly indicate that the use of the radiofrequency waves brings pain relief and improvement of clinical parameters to a greater extent than in sonophoresis. It can be a very important new method in supportive treatment of TMD. Research needs to be continued.
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Clinical Trial
Tolerability of Palmitoylethanolamide in a Pediatric Population Suffering from Migraine: A Pilot Study.
Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) is emerging as a new therapeutic approach in pain and inflammatory conditions, and it has been evaluated in studies on various painful diseases. The aim of this open-label study was to evaluate the efficacy of ultramicronized PEA (umPEA) in the prophylactic treatment of migraine. ⋯ Our preliminary data show that umPEA administered for three month reduces pain intensity and the number of attacks per month in pediatric patients with migraine. Although the small number of patients and the lack of control group do not allow us to consider these initial results as definitely reliable, they encourage us to expand the sample.
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Recently, ultrasound- (US-) guided selective nerve root block (SNRB) has been reported to have similar effects compared to fluoroscopy- (FL-) guided cervical epidural steroid injection (CESI). There is no published study comparing the therapeutic efficacy and safety of interlaminar- (IL-) CESI and transforaminal- (TF-) CESI with US-guided SNRB. Our retrospective study aimed to compare the mid-term effects and advantages of the US-guided SNRB, FL-guided IL-CESI, and TF-CESI for radicular pain in the lower cervical spine through assessment of pain relief and functional improvement. ⋯ Our results suggest that, compared with FL-guided IL and TF-CESI, US-guided SNRB has a low intravascular injection rate; it is unlikely that serious complications will occur. Also, US-guided SNRB requires a shorter administration duration while providing similar pain relief and functional improvements. Therefore, for the treatment of patients with lower cervical radicular pain, US-guided SNRB should be considered as a prior epidural steroid injection.
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Catastrophic thinking is related to pain intensity and the degree of disability and influences pain care significantly. However, only few studies have investigated the impact of catastrophic thinking on chronic pain (CP) in the community-dwelling elderly population. This study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of CP in the community-dwelling elderly population and to investigate the effects of different periods of CP on cognitive and psychological functions. ⋯ The difference in each assessment was compared according to duration of CP among the three groups and analyzed using the chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and one-way analysis of variance. The PCS scores and depression scores were significantly higher in long duration of CP compared with no pain and pain for ≤1 year. The present study is consistent with the fear-avoidance model and was concluded that community-dwelling elderly people with CP are depressive and tend to magnify their pain with long duration of CP.
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This study set out to investigate the effect of massage on the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signalling pathway in the dorsal root ganglia of rats that had undergone spinal nerve ligation (SNL), with the hypothesis that massage could be used as an analgesic. Forty female SD rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: the control group, sham-operated group, model group, sham massage group, and massage group. There were 8 rats in each group. ⋯ The PWTL and PWMT of SNL rats were decreased, while these parameters were elevated after massage. SNL rats showed higher levels of TLR4, IRAK1, TRAF6, IL-6, and TNF-α, and massage effectively lowered the expression levels of these molecules. Inhibiting activation of the TLR4 signalling pathway, which can reduce the release of inflammatory factors, may be one mechanism by which massage treats neuropathic pain.