Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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To assess the evidence base for high-frequency spinal cord stimulation (HFSCS). HFSCS has the potential to provide paresthesia-free pain relief for patients with chronic pain, in contrast to conventional spinal cord stimulation, which produces distracting and potentially unpleasant paresthesias. ⋯ Significant growth in the preclinical and clinical evidence base for HFSCS suggests that HFSCS may differ from conventional SCS in mechanism of action and efficacy of treatment, respectively. Addressing current knowledge gaps in clinical evidence will require standardization in trial reporting and leveraging the paresthesia-free characteristic of HFSCS to enable masking in high-quality randomized controlled trials.
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Clinical Trial
How Do Patients with Chronic Pain Benefit from a Peer-Supported Pain Self-Management Intervention? A Qualitative Investigation.
Peer support is a novel and under-studied approach to the management of chronic pain. This study's purpose was to uncover the elements of a peer-supported self-management intervention that are perceived by participants as essential to achieving positive changes. ⋯ Peer support represents a promising approach to chronic pain management that merits further study. The current study helps to identify intervention elements perceived by participants to be important in achieving positive results. Understanding how peer support may benefit patients is essential to optimize the effectiveness of peer support interventions and increase the implementation potential of peer-supported pain self-management into clinical practice.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
"Managing" the Placebo Effect: The Single-Blind Placebo Lead-in Response in Two Pain Models.
"Placebo effects" in analgesic medication trials for chronic pain are pervasive; however, little is known regarding mechanisms or factors that may influence the presence or magnitude of these effects. Our objective is to consider elements of the placebo response in the context of two pain models using a "single-blind placebo lead-in" design (SBPLI). ⋯ Placebo effects emerged across psychometric and performance-based measures, indicating the pervasiveness of this phenomenon. In this design, diagnostic and (to a lesser extent) gender categories differentials were observed during the placebo period. The SBPLI design may prove not only a robust method in studying the placebo phenomena, but also as a design element to mitigate some aspects of the placebo response in clinical trials.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Chronic Whiplash Associated Disorders (WAD): Responses to Nerve Blocks of Cervical Zygapophyseal Joints.
This study explores the prevalence of facet joint pain in chronic Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD). ⋯ A substantial amount of patients with chronic WAD have their persistent pain emanating from cervical zygapophyseal joints.