Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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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.