Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
-
Potential peripheral sources of pain from subcutaneous tissue can require invasive evocative tests for their localization and assessment. Here, we describe studies whose ultimate goal is development of a noninvasive evocative test for subcutaneous, painful tissue. ⋯ Successful stimulation of the neuroma by intense focused ultrasound required colocalization of the neuroma and intense focused ultrasound supporting our hypothesis.
-
Controlled Clinical Trial
Impact of animal-assisted therapy for outpatients with fibromyalgia.
Animal-assisted therapy using dogs trained to be calm and provide comfort to strangers has been used as a complementary therapy for a range of medical conditions. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of brief therapy dog visits for fibromyalgia patients attending a tertiary outpatient pain management facility compared with time spent in a waiting room. ⋯ Brief therapy dog visits may provide a valuable complementary therapy for fibromyalgia outpatients.
-
To translate the original English version of the Profile of Chronic Pain: Screen (PCP:S) into Brazilian Portuguese and examine basic psychometric properties of the translated version. We investigated ceiling and floor effects, internal consistency, factor structure, convergent validity, and the ability of the Brazilian PCP:S (B-PCP:S) to discriminate persons with pain who were either employed or not working, or in treatment or not in treatment. ⋯ This B-PCP:S version was found to be a reliable instrument, with basic evidence of validity for the evaluation of pain severity, interference, and emotional burden in Brazilian Portuguese adults. The profile of B-PCP:S scores was similar to that observed in the original version.
-
Chronic pain is a public health concern, and in the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the use and abuse of prescription opioids for chronic non-cancer pain. ⋯ The model presented is a patient-centered, efficient, and cost-effective approach to the management of chronic pain.
-
Our objective was to evaluate the quality of opioid analgesia prescribing in chronic nonmalignant pain (CNMP) by general practitioners (GPs, family physicians). ⋯ In this study, long-term opioids were frequently initiated for CNMP without a quality use-of-medicine approach. Potential sequelae are inadequate treatment of pain and escalating opioid-related harms. These data suggest a need for improved resourcing and training in opioid management across pain and addictions.