Top pain control Articles in Anesthesiology

Beliefs about pain control in patients with a chronic ischemia of lower limb
Surgical and Vascular Nursing, 10/23/2009

Wisniewska A et al. – The average of ischaemia pain intensity before the surgery operation was 5.89 p according to the numerical scale parameters. In the smokers the pain intensity was higher. On the 6th day after ... operation the pain intensity was 2.85 p. The analysis of the BPCQ sheet results showed that the tested group of patients had belonged to the “strong–exterior type”. In the pain control the main significance was attributed to the doctors’ influence and medical care, but the lowest for the self ... abilities to fight the pain. The intensity of ischaemia pain in the patients with the chromic ischemia of the lower limb in pre–operation period is high, but after the revascularization surgery is being decreased systematically. With the increase of the pain intensity the belief in the ... on the pain control was getting lower but the belief in the interior self–control was increasing. On the belief about the pain control, the demographic factors, did not have an influence. The location of the interior control did not depend on the duration of illness. [more...]

Heel-Lancing in Newborns: Behavioral and Spectral Analysis Assessment of Pain Control Methods
Pediatrics, 11/02/2009

Weissman A et al. – Any method of pain control is better than none. Feeding and breastfeeding during heel–lancing were found to be the most effective methods of pain relief. Methods A prospective ... heel–lancing for routine neonatal screening of phenylketonuria and hypothyroidism. Newborns were assigned to 6 groups: (1) control (no pain relief intervention); (2) nonnutritive sucking; (3) holding by mother; (4) oral glucose solution; (5) oral formula feeding; or (6) breastfeeding ... before, during, and after heel–lancing. Results Infants with no pain control showed the highest pain manifestation compared with newborns to whom pain control was provided. Infants who breastfed or received an oral formula showed the lowest increase in ... vs 7.1), lowest cry duration (5 and 13 seconds, respectively, vs 49), and lowest decrease in parasympathetic tone (–2 and –2.4, respectively, vs 1.2) compared with the other groups. [more...]

Effects of cognitive pain coping strategies and locus of control on perception of cold pressor pain in healthy individuals: Experimental study
Acute Pain, 11/20/2009

Jokic–Begic N et al. – Internally– and externally–oriented participants did not differ in pain tolerance, pain intensity ratings ... pain coping strategies increased pain tolerance in both groups in comparison with the control situation. In both situations, the participants underestimated the duration of pain tolerance. There was no difference between the effectiveness of distraction and redefining strategies on pain tolerance ... and pain intensity ratings. Cognitive pain coping strategies increase the duration of pain tolerance irrespective of the individual's locus of control, but have no effect on pain intensity rating. [more...]

Pain Symptom Profiles in Persons with Spinal Cord Injury
Pain Medicine, 10/14/2009

Cruz–Almeida Y et al. – The exploratory factor analyses and regression analyses revealed three distinct symptom profiles: 1) aching, throbbing pain, aggravated by cold weather and constipation predicted by a combination of chance ... locus of control and lower levels of life satisfaction; 2) stabbing, penetrating, and constant pain of high intensity predicted by a combination of pain interference, localized pain, powerful others locus of control and depressed mood; and 3) burning, electric, and stinging pain aggravated by touch ... spasms predicted by pain interference. Although these results need to be replicated in other spinal cord injury samples, these findings suggest that pain symptom profiles may be a useful way to further characterize pain in a comprehensive assessment strategy. [more...]

Disrupted Working Body Schema Of The Trunk In People With Back Pain
British Journal of Sports Medicine, 11/09/2009

Bray H et al. – RT was similar across participants and tasks (n.s.). Accuracy was not. Patients with bilateral back pain made more mistakes on the left/right trunk rotation task than patients with unilateral back pain did, who in turn made more mistakes on that task than controls did ... for bilateral back pain patients, 67.2% for unilateral back pain patients and 87% for control participants. This pattern was not observed on the left/right hand judgement task, on which all three groups made correct judgements about 83% of the time (n.s.). Chronic back pain is associated with ... body schema of the trunk. This might be an important contributor to motor control abnormalities seen in this population. [more...]

Long-Term Follow-up of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Patients Who Had Harrington Instrumentation and Fusion to the Lower Lumbar Vertebrae: Is Low Back Pain a Problem?
Spine, 11/13/2009

Bartie BJ et al. – Back pain, no matter how trivial or infrequent, was noted in 75% of the patients and 65% of the controls, statistically different at P = 0.039. Pain intensity was equal to controls in fusions to L2 or L3, but increased in ... to the controls, there was no difference in narcotic use, use of back supports, visits to physicians, or hospitalizations for back problems. There was no difference in the short form–36 in the patients according to whether fused to L2, L3, or L4. When compared to a control group of equal sex ... pain. When compared to the control group using short form–36 evaluation, the patients had statistically equal scores in all 8 domains. Most patients were able to perform most activities of daily living. [more...]

Coping With Pain
Pain: Clinical Updates (IASP’s clinical newsletter), 10/02/2009

Keefe FJ et al. – When meeting someone who suffers from persistent pain, one key question that often arises is: "How do you cope with the pain?" Attempts to understand pain coping have been a major focus of psychosocial pain research and clinical practice for the past two ... of the interest in pain coping can be traced back to the emergence of more sophisticated models of pain (e.g., the gate control theory, the neuromatrix theory)...This issue of Pain: Clinical Updates provides a brief overview of clinical research on pain coping. In the first section, the authors ... studies of pain coping. In the second section, the authors review studies testing interventions designed to enhance pain coping. In the third and final section, the authors discuss several important directions for future clinical research in this area. [more...]

Review: limited evidence that psychological therapies are of benefit for adults with chronic pain
Evidence-Based Mental Health, 10/28/2009

Feinmann C – CBT may have a weak effect in improving pain, mood and disability in adults with chronic pain. There is an absence of evidence for BT, except for pain immediately following treatment, compared with TAU. Methodscontrol, or medical or physical treatment for adults (aged >18 years) with chronic pain (>=3 months’ duration; any site of the body). Two reviewers independently assessed quality and ... therapy (CBT) or behavioural therapy (BT) compared with active control (AC) or treatment as usual (TAU). Outcomes were assessed immediately post–treatment or at follow–up (between 6 and 12 months post–treatment). Results 40 studies (n ... for low back pain; 14 included mixed groups of musculoskeletal pain, including low back pain; nine were for rheumatoid arthritis; six were for fibromyalgia; four for temporomandibular joint pain; two for osteoarthritis of the knee; one for upper limb pain; and one for shoulder pain. Follow ... and chronic pain had been present for a median 9.9 months. CBT was not effective compared with AC immediately post–treatment for treating chronic pain or mood but had a small effect on disability (12 RCTs, 728 participants). At follow–up, CBT reduced pain compared with AC (12 ... 876 participants). CBT reduced pain compared with TAU immediately post–treatment (23 studies, 1199 participants) but did not improve mood or affect disability. At follow–up, CBT was no longer effective compared with TAU for [more...]

Preclinical and Early Clinical Investigations Related to Monoaminergic Pain Modulation
Neurotherapeutics, 10/05/2009

Bannister et al. – The links between pain and the comorbidities of sleep problems, anxiety, and depression may be due to the dual roles of noradrenaline and of 5–HT in these functions and also in pain. These controls appear, in the cases of ... induced bone pain to be driven by altered peripheral and spinal neuronal processes; in opioid–induced hyperalgesia, however, the same changes occur without any pathophysiological peripheral process. Thus, in generalized pain states in which fatigue, mood changes, and diffuse pain occur, such ... descending systems, reinforcing their importance in the establishment of pain but also in its control. [more...]

Brain Gray Matter Decrease in Chronic Pain Is the Consequence and Not the Cause of Pain
Journal of Neuroscience, 11/10/2009

Rodriguez–Raecke R et al. – The authors investigated 32 patients with chronic pain due to primary hip osteoarthritis and found a characteristic gray matter decrease in patients compared with controls in the anterior cingulate ... were completely pain free and the authors observed a gray matter increase in the DLPFC, ACC, amygdala, and brainstem. As gray matter decrease is at least partly reversible when pain is successfully treated, the authors suggest that the gray matter abnormalities found in chronic pain do not reflect ... rather are a reversible consequence of chronic nociceptive transmission, which normalizes when the pain is adequately treated. [more...]