Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Utilization of Health Care Services and Ambulatory Resources Associated with Chronic Noncancer Pain.
Examine traditional and uncompensated health care utilization associated with chronic noncancer pain. ⋯ Patients with chronic noncancer pain utilized more traditional and uncompensated health care resources compared with patients without chronic pain.
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The challenge of obtaining medical imaging in individuals with higher body mass index (BMI) is described, but there is minimal data regarding the relationship between BMI and fluoroscopy time during cervical interlaminar epidural steroid injection (CIESI). ⋯ The findings of this study indicate that BMI does not appear to have a clinically significant impact on fluoroscopy time during cervical interlaminar epidural steroid injection procedures. Future study is needed to directly quantify radiation exposure in patients and practitioners, as well as the associated health risk.
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St. John's Wort Potentiates anti-Nociceptive Effects of Morphine in Mice Models of Neuropathic Pain.
In this study, we compared the efficacy of a combination of PKC-blocker St. John's Wort (SJW) and morphine in mice with painful antiretroviral (2,3-dideoxycitidine [ddC]) and chemotherapic (oxaliplatin) neuropathy. ⋯ These results show that SJW has notable antinociceptive activity for both neuropathic pain models and could be used in neuropathic pain relief alone or in combination with morphine. These data support the utility of combination SJW/opioid therapy in pain management for antinociceptive efficacy by enhancing opioid analgesia.
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Pragmatic Clinical Trial
Real-World Massage Therapy Produces Meaningful Effectiveness Signal for Primary Care Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain: Results of a Repeated Measures Cohort Study.
While efficacy of massage and other nonpharmacological treatments for chronic low back pain is established, stakeholders have called for pragmatic studies of effectiveness in "real-world" primary health care. The Kentucky Pain Research and Outcomes Study evaluated massage impact on pain, disability, and health-related quality of life for primary care patients with chronic low back pain. We report effectiveness and feasibility results, and make comparisons with established minimal clinically important differences. ⋯ Results provide a meaningful signal of massage effect for primary care patients with chronic low back pain and call for further research in practice settings using pragmatic designs with control groups.