European journal of pain : EJP
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While data from USA and Canada demonstrate an opioid overdose epidemic, very little nation-wide European studies have been published on this topical subject. ⋯ In 2004-2017, prescription opioid use in France at least doubled and oxycodone use increased particularly, associated with a nontrivial increase in opioid-related morbidity-mortality. Although giving no indication for an 'opioid epidemic,' these findings call for proper monitoring of opioid use.
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A combination of analgesic agents with different mechanisms can induce additive or synergistic analgesia. The N-type voltage-dependent calcium channel (N-VDCC) is a novel therapeutic target for pain control. In addition to providing effective pain relief when used alone, N-VDCC blockers produce synergistic analgesia when used in combination with opiates. However, the interaction between N-VDCC blockers and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) remains unclear. ⋯ Because ZC88 + ibuprofen achieves the same antinociceptive effect at lower doses, the use of this combination could result in fewer dose-related untoward effects. The potentiation of ZC88 on ibuprofen-induced antinociception indicates that N-VDCC blocker has potential benefit to treat severe inflammatory pain.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Seeing the site of treatment improves habitual pain but not cervical joint position sense immediately after manual therapy in chronic neck pain patients.
Visual analgesia refers to the phenomena where people report decreased pain intensity when they see the painful or painfully stimulated body part. Alongside pain, sensorimotor impairment (i.e., disturbed proprioception) is also evident in chronic pain. This study aims to investigate whether real-time visual feedback offers additional pain relief and proprioceptive improvement when used in combination with recommended therapies in neck pain patients who received manual therapy with or without real-time visual feedback. ⋯ Real-time visual feedback reduces habitual pain immediately after the intervention. Due to its easy integration, it may be an effective adjunct to recommended interventions (i.e., manual therapy) in patients with neck pain.
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Previous mass media campaigns have aimed to influence how people manage back pain, with mixed success. Campaigns should target beliefs which are related to the behaviours they aim to change. This systematic review brings together research that has measured the prevalence of beliefs about back pain in the general population and factors associated with these beliefs, including future pain-related outcomes. ⋯ However, future research should explore how beliefs prospectively influence the management of back pain. SIGNIFICANCE: This review brings together studies which have assessed the prevalence of beliefs about back pain, and factors associated with holding them. It highlights that whether or not these beliefs represent important determinants of how people manage pain remains unknown.
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Conference abstracts are a potential source of new and relevant information about randomized controlled trials (RCTs). However, their dependability is questionable. The objectives of this study were to quantify the agreement between results of RCTs reported in abstracts presented at the four most recent World Congresses on Pain (WCP) and their corresponding full publications, and to analyse the completeness of reporting in those abstracts. ⋯ Abstracts of RCTs addressing pain are not often dependable information sources; half of them are not published, their reporting quality is suboptimal. When published, 30% of abstracts-full text pairs have discordant results, with 78% discordance when abstracts present preliminary results.