Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The efficacy of hyaluronic acid for carpal tunnel syndrome: a randomized double-blind clinical trial.
To investigate the effect of hyaluronic acid (HA) in patients diagnosed with mild or moderate carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). ⋯ A single ultrasound guided perineural HA injection may have short-term therapeutic efficacy for mild or moderate CTS; however, the 2-weeks superior efficacy was not beneficial for chronic neuropathy. Further studies with larger sample sizes are required to verify its therapeutic efficacy.
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Disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could disproportionately affect the health of vulnerable populations, including patients experiencing persistent health conditions (i.e., chronic pain), along with populations living within deprived, lower socioeconomic areas. The current cross-sectional study characterized relationships between neighborhood deprivation and perceived changes in pain-related experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic (early-September to mid-October 2020) for adult patients (N = 97) with nonspecific chronic low back pain. ⋯ The current findings offer evidence that changes in pain coping during the pandemic may be disproportionately worse for those living in deprived areas. Considering poorer pain coping may contribute to long-term consequences, the current findings suggest the need for further attention and intervention to reduce the negative effect of the pandemic for such vulnerable populations.
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Standard of care for opioid use disorder (OUD) includes medication and counseling. However, there is an unmet need for complementary approaches to treat OUD patients coping with pain; furthermore, few studies have probed neurobiological features of pain or its management during OUD treatment. This preliminary study examines neurobiological and behavioral effects of a virtual reality-based meditative intervention in patients undergoing methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). ⋯ These preliminary findings demonstrate feasibility, therapeutic promise, and brain basis of a meditative intervention for OUD patients undergoing MMT.
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Diagnosis of Achilles insertional tendinopathies (AIT) is based on pain by tendon palpation. However, there is no consensus or standard with regard to the amount of force to be used during the evaluation. Algometry is a method of measuring the pressure applied in a specific region and can be a method for determining diagnosis values. ⋯ Algometry was shown to be a simple and reliable method for diagnosing AIT. Values of PT less than 4.08 kgf were found to be predictors of the disease.