Feature Channels: Pain

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University at Buffalo neuroscience researchers conducting basic research on ion channels have demonstrated a process that could have a profound therapeutic impact on pain.

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Thousands of Americans sustain winter-related back injuries every year, including many directly related to holiday activities. Leading neurosurgeon and spine specialist William J. Sonstein, MD, FACS has tips on reducing back injury risk and pain.

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Anesthesiologists played a critical role as part of medical-surgical teams responding to this year's devastating earthquake in Haiti, reports the December issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

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Anesthesiologists are playing a leading role in research into the molecular factors affecting inflammation, pain, and healing of surgical incisions, as illustrated by papers published in the December issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

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Toronto Western Hospital study demonstrates improved wait times for patients suffering back pain.

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Disability from chronic pain in adolescents can be exacerbated by high levels of anxiety, according to research reported The Journal of Pain, the peer review publication of the American Pain Society.

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A newly discovered gene which helps to control the sense of pain is linked to synaesthesia, when sensations such as touch also affect other senses like hearing or sight. The rare condition causes some people to see sounds or written words as colours, or experience tastes, smells and shapes in linked combinations. Famous synaesthetes include composers Franz Liszt or Olivier Messiaens, and this condition has been linked to creativity and intelligence.

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A diagnosis of arthritis or another rheumatic disease can cause someone to feel anxious and even a little overwhelmed. Being a knowledgeable and empowered patient can help alleviate some of those feelings, and being able to navigate through the many misconceptions about arthritis and rheumatic diseases is vitally important.

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The use of special mobility shoes can help ease knee pain and slow disease progression in people with osteoarthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Joint damage caused by rheumatoid arthritis can lead to difficulties in typing and can force people to seek alternative—but potentially more destructive—ways of putting their fingers to the keyboard, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Drinking caffeinated beverages may raise the risk for recurrent gout attacks, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Women with anti-SSA/Ro antibodies and a previous child who has heart block—a condition where the electrical signal that makes the heart beat is damaged—may potentially decrease their risk of delivering another child with life threatening heart disease by taking hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil®), according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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People with hyperuricemia are at an increased risk for high blood pressure, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Hyperuricemia rates among the nation’s adults and senior citizens remain substantially high, putting them at greater risk for developing gout, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Gout rates—and related cases of hyperuricema—have increased over the past two decades, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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The use of urate lowering therapy might successfully prevent death from cardiovascular disease in people with gout, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Anti-TNF therapies commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis have been found to potentially reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia among people with rheumatoid arthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Long-duration spaceflight may have a long-term negative impact on bone health, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Researchers are using 21st-century technologies to investigate the century-old hypothesis that certain autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, are caused by bacteria living in the human body and will present their initial data this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Adding tadalafil (Cialis®; Adcirca®) to the treatment of people with scleroderma can improve Raynaud’s phenomenon symptoms and heal and prevent hand and finger ulcers associated with it, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Foot disorders might be passed down from one generation to the next, according research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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The use of ultrasound needle guidance improves the performance, outcomes and the cost-effectiveness of knee injections in people with osteoarthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta

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People with systemic lupus erythematosus are 1.15 times as likely to develop cancer as the general population and more than 2.5 times as likely to develop hematologic malignancies, such as lymphoma and leukemia, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis have a two to threefold increased risk of developing cancer compared to similarly-aged children without JIA, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta. The same study also reported no cases of cancer in children with JIA who were exposed to anti-TNF therapy.

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Women who consume fructose-rich beverages, such as sugar-sweetened soft drinks and orange juice, are at an increased risk for gout, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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The study found that there are significant benefits of Tai Chi for individuals with all types of arthritis, including fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

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A simple, noninvasive technique providing low-level electrical stimulation of the brain produces significant pain-reducing effects in humans, reports the November issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

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People with rheumatic diseases don’t take their medication on a regular basis, and this leads to poor outcomes in their disease treatment, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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While statins are known to help prevent the progression of atherosclerosis, research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta indicates they should not be routinely prescribed in children and adolescents with lupus despite their increased risk of premature atherosclerosis.

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People with newly-developed rheumatoid arthritis or undifferentiated arthritis may be able to achieve remission, with continued drug therapy, after four months of treatment with methotrexate and prednisone, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Common adult vaccinations are not associated with an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Rheumatoid arthritis researchers are using the 2010 ACR/EULAR Rheumatoid Arthritis Classification Criteria in hopes of improving the ability to identify people with the RA even before they’re diagnosed with the disease in a clinical health care setting. They presented their findings this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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New data presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta show that systemic inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis disease activity may contribute to the progression of atherosclerosis in people with RA. The data also show that this progression may be modified favorably by TNF inhibitors and detrimentally by glucocorticoids.

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Chronic lower back pain may be linked to a recently defined form of inflammatory arthritis known as axial spondyloarthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Adding vitamin D as a supplement does not appear to lessen the symptoms, or slow the progression, of knee osteoarthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Biopsying the glands that produce saliva to test for germinal center-like formation when someone is diagnosed with primary Sjögren’s Syndrome can predict later development of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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Anti tumor necrosis factor therapy increases the risk of developing varicella zoster virus infections, including shingles and chicken pox, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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An alternative anesthetic technique can be employed when conventional nasal intubation methods do not work.. The method involves a gum elastic bougie (GEB) device, which is useful for difficult airway management but seldom has been used for nasotracheal intubation.

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Understanding the role of pain hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or liver cancer is critical since pain has adverse effects on quality of life and could be a predictor of survival, according to research reported in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, www.ampainsoc.org.

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Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful and debilitating condition, but a study reported in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, shows that being in a strong, non-distressed marriage is associated with experiencing less pain and enjoying better functioning and quality of life.

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Stereotactic radiation is an effective, long-term treatment for trigeminal neuralgia: a painful condition that occurs with increased frequency in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Radiation is noninvasive and has less negative side effects than other treatments, according to the longest follow-up in a study of its kind presented October 31, 2010, at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

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Research presented at this year’s American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting offers new data in the quest to develop tailor-made pain management strategies based upon a patient’s genetic predisposition and other important factors.

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Patients with cancer who experience pain or depression also have a high rate of physical symptoms, such as fatigue, dry mouth and nausea, according to a report in the October 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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Ohio University-led study suggests new option for headache pain management.

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For many people suffering from migraine headaches, over-the-counter ibuprofen – Advil and Motrin are well-known brands – might be enough to relieve the pain, a new review finds.

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A new drug called repinotan blocks the respiratory depressant effects of morphine-like opioid drugs—without altering their potent pain-relieving effects, according to a study in the October issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

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As the song says, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, and now researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that the sights and sounds of chirping birds, ribbiting frogs and water trickling downstream can ease the substantial pain of bone marrow extraction in one of five people who must endure it.

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Fizzy beverages light up same pain sensors as mustard and horseradish, a new study shows. So why do we drink them?

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A simple technique for measuring subcutaneous (under the skin) oxygen concentrations may help to identify patients at high risk of developing infections after surgery, reports a study in the October issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

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September 28 event will address holistic approaches to treating fibromyalgia. Hormones, stress, inflammation levels and nutrient deficiencies are considerations, along with other factors that are often treated successfully without strong pain medications.