Pain physician
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Guidelines for low back pain (LBP) management recommend addressing psychosocial risk factors such as stress and depression, which have been shown to play a prognostic role in nonspecific LBP. LBP management has been found to diverge from published recommendations. The reasons why remain unclear and may be related to patient views and expectations regarding the causes and treatment of LBP. ⋯ A significant portion of patients did not agree that psychosocial aspects should be addressed in LBP. Pain severity, health status, level of education, and previous treatment experience appear to affect patient views. These results highlight the importance of careful patient counseling regarding psychosocial factors and screening for psychosocial problems in LBP, when indicated. Additionally, educational initiatives may help bring patient expectations into agreement with recommendations.
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Thalamic pain (TP), also known as central post-stroke pain, is a chronic neuropathic pain syndrome that follows a stroke and is a severe pain that is usually intractable. No universally applicable and effective therapies have been proposed. Emerging studies have reported that electroacupuncture (EA) can potentially be used as an effective therapy for the treatment of neuropathic pain. However, whether EA influences TP and if so, by what potential mechanism, remains poorly understood. ⋯ EA treatment may promote the recovery of TP model rat by regulating ADCY1 expression.