Journal of pain research
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2018
The role of posttraumatic stress symptoms on chronic pain outcomes in chronic pain patients referred to rehabilitation.
Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are highly prevalent in chronic pain patients and may affect pain symptomatology negatively, but there is still a great need to explore exactly how this occurs. Therefore, this study investigated differences in pain intensity, pain-related disability, and psychological distress between chronic pain patients not exposed to a trauma, patients exposed to a trauma with no PTSS, and patients exposed to a trauma with PTSS. Moreover, the moderating effects of PTSS on the associations between pain intensity and pain-related disability and psychological distress were investigated. ⋯ These results highlight the importance of assessing PTSS in chronic pain patients and suggest that PTSS have a specific influence on the association between pain intensity and more psychosocial aspects of the pain condition.
-
Cervical intervertebral disc has long been considered a common source of neck pain. However, the pain caused by the disc itself has not been clearly defined so far, and its diagnosis and treatment has always been controversial. Degenerative cervical disc has a rich supply of nerve fibers, is prone to inflammatory reactions, and is susceptible to pain that can be provoked by disc stimulation or distention, and can be eliminated by block. ⋯ Discogenic neck pain alone without cervical disc herniation or cervical spondylosis accounts for a large proportion of chronic neck pain. For these patients who continue to have refractory neck pain and fail to respond to conservative treatment, anterior cervical fusion surgery or artificial cervical disc replacement may be a better choice, and preoperative cervical discography can guarantee the excellent surgical results. Existing basic and clinical studies have scientifically shown that cervical intervertebral disc degeneration can lead to neck pain.
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2018
Psychiatric and physical comorbidities and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis.
It has been observed that patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), who have psychiatric and physical comorbidities such as depression and COPD, have an increased risk of experiencing more pain. In this study, we have distinguished between pain intensity and pain affect, as the latter, particularly, requires treatment. Furthermore, while pain and comorbidities have been assessed using questionnaires, this is possibly a less reliable method for those who are cognitively vulnerable. ⋯ Both psychiatric and physical comorbidities predict pain affect. All three clinical outcomes enhance MS patients' suffering.
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2018
Influence of needle-insertion depth on epidural spread and clinical outcomes in caudal epidural injections: a randomized clinical trial.
A caudal epidural steroid injection (CESI) is a commonly used method to improve symptoms of lumbosacral pain. We compared the achievement of successful epidurograms and patient-reported clinical outcomes following different needle-insertion depths during CESI. ⋯ Compared with the conventional method, the alternative method for CESI could achieve similar epidural spread and symptom improvement. The alternative technique exhibited clinical benefits of a lower rate of intravascular injection and less procedural pain.
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2018
Test-retest reliability, validity, and minimum detectable change of visual analog, numerical rating, and verbal rating scales for measurement of osteoarthritic knee pain.
Several scales are commonly used for assessing pain intensity. Among them, the numerical rating scale (NRS), visual analog scale (VAS), and verbal rating scale (VRS) are often used in clinical practice. However, no study has performed psychometric analyses of their reliability and validity in the measurement of osteoarthritic (OA) pain. Therefore, the present study examined the test-retest reliability, validity, and minimum detectable change (MDC) of the VAS, NRS, and VRS for the measurement of OA knee pain. In addition, the correlations of VAS, NRS, and VRS with demographic variables were evaluated. ⋯ All the three scales had excellent test-retest reliability. However, the VAS was the most reliable, with the smallest errors in the measurement of OA knee pain.