Current pain and headache reports
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Jan 2012
Inhaled Oxygen for Cluster Headache: Efficacy, Mechanism of Action, Utilization, and Economics.
Inhaled normobaric oxygen is an essential abortive treatment of cluster headache. Recognition of its efficacy for cluster headache goes back a half a century, but very little has actually been written on the use of inhaled oxygen for cluster headache. ⋯ Much of the data analyzed comes from the recently published United States Cluster Headache Survey. This is the largest study of cluster headache patients ever published and is the first study to focus on inhaled oxygen and cluster headache in a large, non-clinic-based population.
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Dec 2011
Review Meta AnalysisComplementary and alternative medicine for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis: an overview of systematic reviews.
This review critically evaluates the literature on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as treatment options for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. ⋯ Five systematic reviews met our inclusion criteria. They all arrived at cautious conclusions. Four reviews were of high quality and one was burdened with high risk of bias. The evidence to support the effectiveness of CAM as a treatment option for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis is ambiguous.
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The tenderness of pericranial myofascial tissues and number of myofascial trigger points are considerably increased in patients with tension-type headache (TTH). Mechanisms responsible for the increased myofascial pain sensitivity have been studied extensively. Peripheral activation or sensitization of myofascial nociceptors could play a role in causing increased pain sensitivity, but firm evidence for a peripheral abnormality still is lacking. ⋯ Sensitization of pain pathways in the central nervous system due to prolonged nociceptive stimuli from pericranial myofascial tissues seem to be responsible for the conversion of episodic to chronic TTH. Treatment directed toward muscular factors include electromyography biofeedback, which has a documented effect in patients with TTH, as well as physiotherapy and muscle relaxation therapy, which are most likely effective. Future studies should aim to identify the source of peripheral nociception.
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Sexual hormones influence complex brain function and pain perception. Many psychophysical studies attempted to establish pain perception changes across menstrual cycle in animal models and healthy women or those with chronic pain. ⋯ The few studies applying neurophysiological procedures to test pain-related changes during menstrual cycle suggested a fluctuation of central modulation of pain across phases, with a prevalence of excitatory versus inhibitory control in the premenstrual period, which may explain the cyclic worsening of many syndromes, such as migraine. Whatever is the relevance of menstrual cycle on individual painful symptoms, it should be accepted as one of the numerous factors influencing mechanisms of neuromodulation.
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Oct 2011
Review Comparative StudyAre menstrual and nonmenstrual migraine attacks different?
Migraine is the second most common headache condition next to tension-type headache. Up to one fourth of all women have migraine, and 20% of them experience migraine without aura attack in at least two thirds of their menstrual cycles. ⋯ Future studies should be based on the general population. Collection of both prospective and retrospective data is warranted, and headache diagnosis base on interviews by physicians with interest in headache are more precise than lay interviews or questionnaires.