Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Pain experienced by patients with plantar heel pain has been associated with fascia thickness. It is possible that referred muscle pain may also be related to symptoms experienced by these patients. Our aim was to systematically investigate if the referred pain elicited by trigger points in the leg and foot musculature reproduces the symptoms in individuals with plantar heel pain and to determine the association of trigger points (TrPs) with pain and related disability. ⋯ The referred pain elicited by active TrPs in the foot muscles reproduced the symptoms in patients with plantar heel pain. A greater number of active TrPs was associated with higher pain and related disability in patients with plantar heel pain.
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To identify significant bleeding complications following spinal interventions in patients taking medications with antiplatelet or anticoagulation effect. ⋯ This cohort adds to the growing evidence that the risk of serious bleeding complications from select spine interventions while continuing medications with antiplatelet or anticoagulant effect appears low.
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Embedded behavioral medicine services are a common component of multidisciplinary chronic pain treatment programs. However, few studies have studied whether these services are associated with improved treatment outcomes. ⋯ Despite worse pain and physical and psychological functioning at baseline, Behavioral Medicine patients showed improvements comparable to patients not receiving these services. Further, Behavioral Medicine patients report higher global impressions of change, indicating that embedded mental health services appear to have the additive value of amplifying the benefits of multimodal pain care.
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Observational Study
A Patient-Based National Survey and Prospective Evaluation of Postoperative Pain Management in Spain: Prevalent but Possibly Preventable.
To evaluate the national general prevalence of postoperative pain and the associated organizational/structural factors related to the provision of health care services. ⋯ Compared with previous reports, the prevalence of moderate/severe postoperative pain has decreased but remains excessive. Organizational improvements to deploy procedure-specific, opioid-sparing analgesic strategies including regional techniques are recommended.
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Many female pain sufferers with medically unexplained pain are at risk of being stigmatized in our Western society. Fibromyalgia is offered as the exemplar condition. ⋯ Given how embedded the factors responsible for the stigmatization of women with fibromyalgia in Western society are, the realistic prospects for addressing this issue are poor.