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PainCare Blog
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July, 2008 |
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28 July 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Matt Walker
Wild orangutans have been spotted
using naturally occurring
anti-inflammatory drugs.
Four individuals have been seen
rubbing a soothing balm onto their
limbs, the first known examples of
orangutans self medicating. Great
apes have never before been seen
using drugs in this way. Remarkably
though, local people use the same
balm, administering it in a similar
way to treat aches and pains.
More...
PainCareMD
By Debra D. Bass
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
07/26/2008
Fill in the blank.
"The dumbest thing I ever did for
fashion was..."
Take your time, everyone else I
asked did. Apparently, most of us
have a long list to choose from. ...
...When women come to him with
headaches, back pain, neck pain and
a number of residual complaints, the
last thing they want to believe is
that their beloved handbag is the
culprit...
More...
PainCareMD
Prescribing pain medications for
elderly patients is like walking a
tight rope. On the one hand, elderly
patients are more likely to have
pain due to aging and degenerative
problems that require meaningful
treatments. On the other hand
balance and coordination problems
coupled with the dizziness
side-effect of some medications make
the elderly more at risk for falls
when taking these medications. Close
monitoring and slow graduated dosage
adjustment are essential for safe
and effective medication management
of pain for the elderly.
Larry Ho, MD
Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:44pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 8,000
older Americans who fell and banged
their heads died from the brain
injury in 2005, according to a
government study released on Monday.
Another 56,000 elderly people had to
be treated in hospital for brain
injuries caused by falls, the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reported in the Journal
of Safety Research.
More...
PainCareMD
July 29, 2008
The Evidence Gap
By
BARRY MEIER, NEW YORK TIMES
Dr. Lawrence Dorr, a nationally
known orthopedic surgeon in Los
Angeles, realized last year that
something was very wrong with some
of his patients.
Months after routine hip
replacements, patients who had
expected to live without pain were
in agony. “The pain was grabbing me
around the back,” said Stephen
Csengeri, who is 54, and a lawyer
from Torrance, Calif.
Dr. Dorr found he had implanted the
same metal hip socket in each
patient. Several needed surgery
again — a replacement for their
replacement.
The doctor first told the device’s
manufacturer, Zimmer Holdings, last
year about his concerns but nothing
happened. Then in April, Dr. Dorr,
who was a highly paid consultant for
Zimmer, sounded an alarm to
colleagues in a professional
association and soon heard back from
doctors with similar experiences.
More...
LearningLink Debuts With Series on
Managing Pain
By
Barbara Bein
7/23/2008
The AAFP has launched a new online
classroom, dubbed LearningLink, that
provides Academy members with CME in
multiple formats.
The free program focuses on specific
diseases or medical conditions, with
pain management as the first topic.
Registered participants learn about
the topic -- and earn CME credit --
by completing five, hour-long
activities to be released
periodically from now through
February. The series includes a
webcast, along with audio and video
podcasts.
"Managing chronic pain is a
challenge for family physicians and
merits targeted education," said
Leigh McKinney, director of AAFP's
Online and Custom Publishing
Division, which developed the
programming. "We liked the
multimedia and longitudinal aspects
of LearningLink."
More...
PainCareMD
American Society of Pain Educators
launches first of three-part series
By
ASPE: The American Society of Pain
Educators
SunHerald.com, MONTCLAIR, N.J., July
24 --
The American Society of Pain
Educators (ASPE) announces the
launch of an educational Webcast
series on chronic pain with leading
health specialists and Olympic Games
gold medalist and chronic pain
sufferer, Nikki Stone. The first in
the three-part series, "Keep Moving!
Persistent Chronic Pain Doesn't Have
to Hold You Back" is available today
at www.painawareness.org.
More...
PainCareMD
From The Times Online
July 26, 2008
New research shows why some people
are better at coping with pain than
others.
Pain is a simple enough concept to
grasp. You stub your toe, shout,
perhaps utter a few expletives, rub
it better and it eventually fades.
But neuroscientists are realising
that pain is much more complex than
anyone thought possible, comprising
not just physical sensations, but
emotional ones too.
More...
PainCareMD
By
Linda Dums • For The Post-Crescent •
July 26, 2008
Back pain is a common ailment for
pregnant women.
But it can linger after pregnancy
because of all the lifting and
bending and carrying that comes with
caring for a baby.
However, the back pain prevention
and management methods women learned
about during pregnancy, such as how
to stand, lift, even sit and sleep,
can still be applied after
pregnancy, specialists say.
More...
PainCareMD
Spinal decompression therapy, or
vertebral axial decompression with
machines such as the IDD Acu-Spina
or the DRX 9000 has gained
popularity with patients and
clinicians. Evidence is mounting as
to the treatment's efficacy. But
like many new approaches in
medicine, spinal decompression
therapy remains "investigational"
with some insurance companies.
PainCare Medical Group offers
qualified patients who are in our
physical therapy program the
opportunity of using IDD Therapy for
traction, as a part of the overall
treatment plan.
Larry Ho, MD
PainCareMD.com
July 25, 2008
TAMPA, Fla., Jul 25, 2008 (BUSINESS
WIRE) -- A study titled, "Effect of
Spinal Decompression Therapy
Compared with Intermittent
Mechanical Traction in Lumbosacral
Disc Herniation" is published in the
June issue of the Korean Academy of
Rehabilitation Medicine.
More...
PainCareMD
By
Fiona Macrae 24th July 2008, The
Daily Mail
PC
pain: Spending more time on
computers is causing back and head
aches
They are meant to make our lives
easier. But computers are a real
pain in the neck. And the back.
Our growing reliance on the screens
on our desks at work and home means
many of us are spending more hours
than ever hunched over PCs.
As
a result, the number of Britons
suffering backache has more than
doubled in a decade, researchers
have found.
More...
PainCareMD
MarketWatch
July 24, 2008
CHICAGO, Jul 24, 2008 (BUSINESS
WIRE) -- A new online survey by
Spine-health ( www.spine-health.com)
shows that back and neck pain and
their related health problems are
causing productivity troubles at the
workplace. The Spine-health.com
survey of more than 750 respondents
found that 50 percent reported
missing work for 10 or more days due
to back-related problems. Another 29
percent of respondents said chronic
pain kept them off the job for as
many as nine days over the last
year, according to the survey.
Spine-health.com is a 2,000 page
online resource written and reviewed
by doctors for patients with back
pain, chronic pain, and related
health issues.
More...
PainCareMD
British researchers identify variant
that increases risk of myopathy at
high doses
Posted July 23, 2008
By
Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, July 23 (HealthDay News)
-- British researchers have
discovered a genetic variant that
causes some people who take
cholesterol-lowering statins to have
the muscle weakness called myopathy.
"We found a variant that affects the
transport of statins into the
liver," said Dr. Rory Collins, a
professor of medicine and
epidemiology at the University of
Oxford and a leader of the group
reporting the discovery in the July
24 online issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine. "That variant
produces a high level of blood
statins and accounts for the
greatest proportion of myopathy in
people who use statins."
More...
PainCareMD
Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
By
Jack Kelly, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette
Richard Lynn, 54, of Squirrel Hill,
receives Feldenkrais movement
therapy from Mark Shefsiek at the
UPMC Center for Integrative
Medicine.
If
you're suffering pain or a loss of
mobility from an injury or a stroke,
you might want to give Feldenkrais a
try.
Feldenkrais can't cure what ails
you. But it can help your body
adjust to whatever the problem is,
and that can make you feel better
and move better.
More...
PainCareMD
'Hitting the Green Without Hurting
Your Back':
PGA Teacher Dr. Jim Suttie Offers
Free Seminar for Golfers
Last update: 1:09 p.m. EDT July 17,
2008
MUNDELEIN, Ill., July 17, 2008 /PRNewswire
via COMTEX/ -- Ranked by Golf Digest
this year as the # 1 Golf Teacher in
Illinois and among the Top 20 in the
U.S., renowned PGA instructor Dr.
Jim Suttie's quick tips include:
-- Use longer and more upright
clubs. Avoid bending forward at
address
too much.
-- Bend your knees more than
conventional instruction would tell
you to.
This will take pressure off your
spine.
-- Narrow your stance to enable you
to turn your body easier.
-- Stand erect at address.
-- Avoid coiling on the backswing.
Turn your hips and shoulders
together.
Never restrict your hips on the
backswing.
-- Let your head turn a little to
the right on the backswing. This
will
avoid putting pressure on the
thoracic spine area.
More...
By: American Cancer Society - Tue,
07/15/2008 - 14:49
New report on pain management shows
seven states have improved Pain
Policies in the Last Year, but some
barriers still remain.
States continue to make steady
progress in adopting balanced
policies that help people with pain
to alleviate their suffering,
according to a report released today
that evaluates state policies to
improve pain management and patient
care. However, only five states have
received a grade of 'A' for enabling
health care professionals to
effectively alleviate the suffering
of their patients without
encountering barriers in legislation
or regulation.
More...
PainCareMD
Dana Poole, left, feels aches all
over at any given moment from a
condition called fibromyalgia.
By
Judy Fortin
CNN Medical Correspondent
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- You
wouldn't know it by looking at her,
but at any given moment Dana Poole
hurts all over.
Dana Poole, left, feels aches all
over at any given moment from a
condition called fibromyalgia.
Dana Poole, left, feels aches all
over at any given moment from a
condition called fibromyalgia.
"It's kind of like a burning, but an
ache. It's almost like you have the
flu," said Poole, 31, a receptionist
from Canton, Georgia.
Poole is one of almost 6 million
Americans who suffer from a chronic
condition called fibromyalgia.
In
addition to widespread pain,
patients may complain about fatigue
and sleep disturbances, depression,
headaches, irritable bowel syndrome
and heightened sensitivity.
More...
PainCareMD
ATLANTA, July 14, 2008 /PRNewswire
via COMTEX/ -- Despite the cooler
weather, many young adults continue
to wear slides, flip flops and
sandals throughout school season,
according to Okabashi Brands -- in
the locker room, on campus, in the
dorm or as an after sports
"recovery" shoe.
But, according to Dr. Leo Bronston,
DC, a practicing doctor of
chiropractic for 30 years in western
Wisconsin and member of the American
Chiropractic Association, those slip
on shoes are also changing the way
kids and young adults walk, leaving
them open to infection and leading
to possible sprains or heel, toe or
foot pain.
More...
PainCareMD
Doctors prescribe drug to curb pain
By S. Maurreen Skowran - McClatchy
Newspapers
RALEIGH, N.C. --Methadone, long
prescribed as an alternative to
heroin, is proving to be a hazard of
its own. As a treatment for
addiction, methadone is considered
an effective tool. But as its use as
a low-cost pain reliever becomes
more widespread, a growing number of
people are dying from methadone
overdoses.
Methadone contributed to 299
fatal overdoses in the state in
2005, the latest year with national
data available. The number of such
deaths has more than quintupled from
47 in 1999.
More...
PainCareMD
Sunday, July 13, 2008
By
Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
With the Food and Drug
Administration's approval of a
second fibromyalgia medication last
month, you'd think the nation's
estimated 10 million acute pain
fibromyalgia sufferers would be
delighted.
Not
quite.
While welcoming any new treatment,
patients also know that insurance
companies have been slow to cover
Lyrica, which won FDA approval a
year ago, and probably will have
similar reluctance with Cymbalta, an
antidepressant now approved for
treating fibromyalgia.
More...
PainCareMD
NEW YORK TIMES
ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: July 9, 2008
A
large majority of 365 Internet sites
that advertise or sell controlled
medications by mail are offering to
supply the drugs without a proper
prescription, according to a new
study. The online trade is stoking
the rising abuse of addictive and
dangerous prescription drugs, the
authors and federal officials say.
Drugs offered online include generic
versions of opiates like OxyContin,
methadone and Vicodin...,
more...
PainCareMD
Many Nevadans crave painkillers, and
some doctors oblige
 
Prescription drugs confiscated by
the coroner’s office in the past six
weeks are displayed at the coroner’s
offices Wednesday.
Las
Vegas Sun
By Marshall Allen
Sun, Jul 6, 2008
Nevadans consume about twice the
national average of several
prescription painkillers, making us
among the most narcotic-addled
populations in the United States, a
Sun analysis has found.
The
consequences are deadly. More people
in Clark County die of prescription
narcotics overdoses than of
overdoses of illicit drugs or from
vehicle accidents. In 2006, Nevadans
were the No. 1 users per capita of
hydrocodone — better-known by the
brand names Vicodin or Lortab.
We took enough of the drug to equal
48 Vicodin pills for every man,
woman and child in the state for a
year.
More...
PainCareMD
The Economic Times, 2 Jul, 2008
WASHINGTON: In 2003, the Robert Koch
Institute interviewed more than 8000
private persons in the course of a
telephone health survey, which
included questions on social and
demographic themes, as well as
health and lifestyle.
On
the basis of the collected data,
Monique Zimmermann-Stenzel and her
colleagues examined whether there
was link between smoking and chronic
back pain. They found that smokers
or former smokers suffer chronic
back pain much more often than do
non-smokers.
More...
PainCareMD.com
Wed, Jul 02, 2008
Asia One, The Sunday Times
At just 54, hotel cleaner Madam Choh Kin
Sam had to throw in the towel and
take early retirement because of her
bad back.
The mother-of-four was in such pain
that she could barely walk home at
the end of her shift.
She
was suffering from a degenerative
lower-spine condition known as
lumbar scoliosis.
The condition was diagnosed when she
was 40, when she learnt that her
lower back was curving abnormally to
one side.
More...
PainCareMD.com
By
Martin Renzhofer
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 06/30/2008
01:55:48 AM MDT
... To be an athlete at a high level
requires passion and dedication. To
compete at such a high level
requires high intensity as well as
physical and mental health.
What happens when injury forces an
athlete, such as Schlauder, to have
her dream snatched away while still
in her prime? She is hardly alone.
A
study by the University of Iowa
revealed that 21 percent out of
21,000 surveyed in 351 high schools
were forced to retire from sport; as
many as 66 percent of all NFL
players' retirement was the direct
result of serious injury.
According to Keith , a sports
psychologist in Salt Lake City,
athletes experience a variety of
emotional stages, starting with
denial, depression, recognition
before trying to cope.
More...
June 25, 2008 9:19 p.m. PT
Advocacy group sues state over
guidelines for pain medications
By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A
pain treatment advocacy group filed
suit Wednesday in federal court
challenging restrictions Washington
state officials have put on
prescription pain medication.
The nonprofit Pain Relief Network
says that the guidelines for
prescribing narcotics, written by
the state Department of Health and
published in March 2007, have
influenced pain treatment across the
country and have made doctors afraid
to give opiate prescriptions.
Siobhan Reynolds, president of the
Pain Relief Network, says the group
decided to target Washington because
the state has been a leader both in
pain treatment and in restricting
doctors' prescriptions of pain
relief medication.
The guidelines, which apply only to
treatment of chronic pain, not acute
pain, cancer pain or hospice care,
recommend that a total daily dose of
opioids should not exceed 120
milligrams of morphine or its
equivalent if both pain and physical
function are not improving.
More..
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