Journal of pain research
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Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is a term used to define an unsatisfactory outcome of a patient who underwent spinal surgery, irrespective of type or intervention area, with persistent pain in the lumbosacral region with or without it radiating to the leg. The possible reasons and risk factors that would lead to FBSS can be found in distinct phases: in problems already present in the patient before a surgical approach, such as spinal instability, during surgery (for example, from a mistake by the surgeon), or in the postintervention phase in relation to infections or biomechanical alterations. ⋯ The dysfunction of the diaphragm muscle is a component that is not taken into account when trying to understand the reasons for this syndrome, as there is no existing literature on the subject. The diaphragm is involved in chronic lower back and sacroiliac pain and plays an important role in the management of pain perception.
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2016
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation versus botulinum toxin injection in chronic migraine prophylaxis: a pilot randomized trial.
Chronic migraine is a prevalent disabling disease, with major health-related burden and poor quality of life. Long-term use of preventive medications carries risk of side effects. ⋯ BTX-A injection and rTMS have favorable efficacy and safety profiles in chronic migraineurs. rTMS is of comparable efficacy to BTX-A injection in chronic migraine therapy, but with less sustained effect.
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2016
Keeping an eye on pain: investigating visual attention biases in individuals with chronic pain using eye-tracking methodology.
Attentional biases to painful stimuli are evident in individuals with chronic pain, although the directional tendency of these biases (ie, toward or away from threat-related stimuli) remains unclear. This study used eye-tracking technology, a measure of visual attention, to evaluate the attentional patterns of individuals with and without chronic pain during exposure to injury-related and neutral pictures. Individuals with (N=51) and without chronic pain (N=62) completed a dot-probe task using injury-related and neutral pictures while their eye movements were recorded. ⋯ Between-group differences showed that individuals with chronic pain had fewer fixations and shorter average visit durations for all stimuli. An examination of how biases change over the time-course of stimulus presentation showed that during the late phase of attention, individuals with chronic pain had longer average gaze durations on injury pictures relative to pain-free individuals. The results show the advantage of incorporating eye-tracking methodology when examining attentional biases, and suggest future avenues of research.
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2016
Fixed-site high-frequency transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for treatment of chronic low back and lower extremity pain.
The objective of this study was to determine if fixed-site high-frequency transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (FS-TENS) is effective in treating chronic low back and lower extremity pain. ⋯ FS-TENS is a safe and effective option for treating chronic low back and lower extremity pain. These results motivate the use of FS-TENS in development of wearable analgesic devices.
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2016
Is blood glucose associated with descending modulation of spinal nociception as measured by the nociceptive flexion reflex?
Prior research has shown a relationship between blood glucose levels and some forms of self-regulation (eg, executive function), with low blood glucose levels associated with impaired self-regulation. Further, engagement in self-regulation tasks depletes blood glucose. Given these relationships, the present study examined whether blood glucose is associated with another form of self-regulation, ie, descending pain modulatory processes. ⋯ This study suggests that glucose depletion may impair performance of descending inhibitory processes, without impacting the perceptual detection of pain (pain threshold). Although findings need to be replicated, maintaining adequate glucose levels may be necessary to support inhibition of spinal nociception.