Pain physician
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Iliocostalis Thoracis-Lumborum Myofascial Pain: Reviewing a Subgroup of a Prospective, Randomized, Blinded Trial. A Challenging Diagnosis with Clinical Implications.
Pain of myofascial origin is a well-recognized pathology characterized by the presence of two components: referred pain; which is often distant from its source and specific to each muscle, and the trigger point, a localized hyperirritable band present in the affected muscle and able to reproduce the referred pain when stimulated. Myofascial pain (MP) commonly coexists in patients with acute or chronic pain of other etiologies. The uniqueness of the clinical presentation of some MPs and the lack of training of most specialties represent a clinical challenge. Thus, many patients with MPS receive less than optimal management of this condition. ⋯ Anterior torso pain often resulted in extensive workups before ITL myofascial pain was diagnosed. TP injections were diagnostic and therapeutic of ITL myofascial pain.
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Burnout is a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job, defined by 3 dimensions: exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. While there is a growing body of research on burnout in physicians, there is a dearth of literature on burnout in pain medicine physicians. ⋯ Pain medicine physicians in the United States reported high levels of emotional exhaustion, often considered the most taxing aspect of burnout. Job dissatisfaction appeared to be the leading agent in the development of all 3 components of burnout in pain medicine physicians in the United States.
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It is well documented that epidural adhesion is associated with spinal pain. However, the underlying mechanism of spinal pain generation by epidural adhesion has not yet been elucidated. ⋯ The current study clearly demonstrated that epidural adhesion causes significantly increased stress in the spinal nerves, especially at the DRG. We believe that the increased stress on the spinal nerve might elicit more pain under similar magnitudes of lumbar disc protrusion.
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The spine, pelvis, skull, and femur are the most common sites of bone metastases, and pain is the main symptom of metastatic tumors. Percutaneous femoroplasty (PFP) is becoming increasingly popular for treating proximal femoral metastases. ⋯ Use of CT-guided PFP was associated with a low risk of complications and improvement in patients' quality of life. CT guidance made the operation easy and safe, and thus, this approach represents a potential treatment option for proximal femoral metastases if indications are observed closely.
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Offset analgesia (OA) is an increasingly described phenomenon to measure endogenous pain inhibition, in which a greater decrease in pain intensity is experienced than would be predicted by the decrease in painful stimulation. The temporal filtering in this OA phenomenon differs from the spatial filtering in the commonly described conditioned pain modulation (CPM). Yet, the knowledge on the efficacy of OA in chronic pain patients is scarce, compared to CPM efficacy. ⋯ This systematic review displays OA as a temporal filtering mechanisms that is more brain-derived compared to the spatial assessment method CPM. There is strong evidence for reduced OA in neuropathic patients, however, evidence regarding OA in (sub)acute and central sensitization patients, and the influence of personal factors on OA is currently scarce and needs further investigation.