Articles: pain-clinics.
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Anasthesiol Intensivmed Notfallmed Schmerzther · Sep 2020
[Use of Virtual Reality as a Component of Acute and Chronic Pain Treatment].
Future or reality? Treating acute and chronic pain is a part of the daily routine of clinical anesthesiologists. Commonly used analgesics have unwanted side effects or may even be insufficient as in chronic pain treatment. Virtual Reality (VR) could be a promising new approach which offers noninvasive therapy options for the treatment of pain. ⋯ VR can be used as an immersive extension or alternative to mirror therapy, especially for pain disorders such as complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) or phantom limb pain. VR can be supplemented by gamification, which increases intrinsic motivation, well-being and adherence to therapy. In summary, VR could be an effective and realistic therapy option for acute and chronic pain in clinical and home settings in the future.
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Ann Acad Med Singap · Sep 2020
Clinical Challenges and Considerations in Management of Chronic Pain Patients During a COVID-19 Pandemic.
Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was deemed a pandemic on 11 March 2020, we have seen exponential increases in the number of cases and deaths worldwide. The rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation requires revisions to clinical practice to defer non-essential clinical services to allocate scarce medical resources to the care of the COVID-19 patient and reduce risk to healthcare workers. Chronic pain patients require long-term multidisciplinary management even during a pandemic. ⋯ The chronic pain patient faces a potential risk of functional and emotional decline during a pandemic, increasing healthcare burden in the long term. Clinical decisions on pain management strategies should be based on balancing the risks and benefits to the individual patient. In this commentary, we aim to discuss the basis behind some of the decisions and safeguards that were made at our tertiary pain centre over the last 6 months during the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Anasthesiol Intensivmed Notfallmed Schmerzther · Sep 2020
[Early Interdisciplinary Assessment for Secondary Prevention of Chronic Pain - Scientific Background, Concept of Delivery, Target Population and Status of Health Care Provision].
Pain is agreed to be understood as a multi-causal, biopsychosocial phenomenon. A sufficient health care delivery shall therefore contain a corresponding interdisciplinary approach in diagnostic and therapy, respectively. ⋯ The article introduces into existing knowlegde about pain and risk factors for chronicity. The background (evidence and theoretical) of corresponding health care approaches and a detailed concept of interdisciplinary pain diagnostic by a multiprofessional team consisting of pain physician, physiotherapist and clinical psychologist are described and discussed.