Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2013
ReviewMusculoskeletal Pain, Fear Avoidance Behaviors, and Functional Decline in Obesity: Potential Interventions to Manage Pain and Maintain Function.
Individuals with musculoskeletal pain exhibit abnormal movement patterns, including antalgic gait, postural dysfunction, increased thoracolumbar stiffness, decreased proprioception, and altered activation of abdominal and extensor muscles. Additionally, aberrant or increased biomechanical forces over time produce joint or structural damage that results in pain. A large body habitus resulting from excessive weight can accelerate these musculoskeletal complaints. ⋯ Morbid obesity is a medical condition that alters biomechanical forces on the tissues of the body. This condition provides the opportunity to examine accelerated development of musculoskeletal pain syndromes and etiology. The proposed therapeutic interventions can have multiple benefits in the obese population including weight loss, improved psychological outlook and self-efficacy, reduced kinesiophobia levels, reduced risk of functional dependence, and improved quality of life.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyA Dose-Ranging Study of 0.5% Bupivacaine or Ropivacaine on the Success and Duration of the Ultrasound-Guided, Nerve-Stimulator-Assisted Sciatic Nerve Block: A Double-Blind, Randomized Clinical Trial.
Before bifurcation, the sciatic nerve is composed of 2 component nerves encased in a common investing extraneural layer (CIEL). We examined the effect of various volumes injected beneath the CIEL on the success and duration of sciatic nerve block. ⋯ Injecting 10 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine or ropivacaine below the CIEL produces comparable onset and duration of sensory and motor blockade as volumes as large as 30 mL.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2013
Observational StudyAn Analysis of the Safety of Epidural and Spinal Neuraxial Anesthesia in More Than 100,000 Consecutive Major Lower Extremity Joint Replacements.
A feared complication of spinal or epidural anesthesia is the development of epidural or spinal hematoma with subsequent neural element compression. Most available data are derived from the obstetric literature. Little is known about the frequency of hematoma occurrence among patients undergoing orthopedic joint arthroplasty, who are usually elderly and experience significant comorbidities. We sought to study the incidence of clinically significant lesions after spinal and epidural anesthesia and further describe their nature. ⋯ The incidence of epidural/spinal complications found in this consecutive case series is relatively low but higher than previously reported in the nonobstetric population. Further research using large data sets could quantify the significance of some of the potentially contributing factors observed in this study.