Blog Archive
Australian research scientists have devised a new blood test to measure pain called “painHS”. They say the “painHS” will soon be an accurate tool for objectively telling doctors how much pain their patient is suffering from. How does the new pain assessment test work? Th.e “color of pain” project is...
Kelly Thomas and Jeff Marquis learn to walk again thanks to a spinal cord implant. They participated in a study from the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at the University of Louisville. The Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at the University of Louisville has reported the results of...
Neuropathic pain is nasty. It is baffling and excruciating. It’s also defined as chronic pathological pain that continues after the physiological cause has been eliminated. It can cause even the lightest of feathery touches to produce intolerable pain. Neuropathy is quite common. It affects 5-10% of the world’s population. No cures...
Data from 6 studies show that virtual reality (VR) is beneficial in the treatment of pain in adults and children. The immersive nature of VR may explain why the technique is effective. Virtual reality is popping up virtually everywhere. New VR technology is rapidly emerging, and new uses for VR...
Spinal cord stimulation (also known as “SCS”) therapy has been used to combat chronic pain since 1967. The FDA approved spinal cord stimulation in 1989 for the relief of intractable pain in the torso, arms, and legs. How does spinal cord stimulation therapy work for chronic pain? SCS works by sending...
Resiniferatoxin is 10,000 times hotter than the hottest pepper, and has features that make it promising as a painkiller of last resort. It takes a while for the heat to explode in your mouth, but soon searing pain is spreading from your tongue to your lips and down your throat....
This story is really about why females (both laboratory animals and humans) must be properly represented in medical research designed to alleviate pain. But the National Institutes of Health (NIH) primer which generated this article deals specifically with “Sex as a Biological Variable”(SABV). Why “sex” rather than “gender”? It seems...
The current opioid crisis is described in terms such as “the opioid epidemic”, or “the deadliest drug overdose crisis in US history.” The statistics are indeed staggering. 72,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2017. This is a new record. And two thirds of those deaths were related to opioids....
We recently posted a story summarizing the current state of the “opioid crisis”. Since then, an impressive group of pain management experts has weighed in on behalf of pain management patients. That earlier article traced the recent swings of the opioid prescription control pendulum. Our brief account began with a description of...
A federal task force is calling for a far more individualized approach to pain management in the wake of the opioid epidemic. The history of opioids in pain management is like a pendulum that has oscillated over a couple of centuries. Throughout the 19th century opioids were widely used to...
Many people slouch or strain their necks while working at the computer. A new study shows how jutting the head forward to read more closely compresses the neck and leads to neck and shoulder problems. Archimedes promised that, given a long enough lever, he could promptly move the world. Human anatomy...
The current opioid crisis is a very real and very widespread national problem. 72,000 Americans died from overdoses in 2017. That’s a new record. And two thirds of those overdoses were from opioids, whether prescription or illicit. One consequence of the national focus on the opioid crisis is a burgeoning interest in...
A report published in the January edition of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology recounts how researchers from Yale and Georgia State expanded upon a 2014 study of how children express pain. Do doctors take women’s pain less seriously? Women are often assumed to be both more sensitive and more expressive than men,...
Opioid-related deaths continue to be an epidemic of crisis proportions. But federal and state agencies are focusing on the wrong target – legitimate prescribing of opioids – and have insinuated themselves into the doctor-patient relationship as never before. The foundational facts remain undisputed. Opioid-related deaths continue to be an epidemic of...
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died at 35. During that short lifespan he consistently endured intense pain. Mozart suffered from smallpox, tonsillitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, typhoid fever, rheumatism, and gum disease. The severe migraines that plagued him for years may have been caused by the skull fracture that was discovered posthumously. Now pain researchers are...
Our bodies have two primary structural bends, one at the hips and the other at the knees. The basic design of a chair (a seat with four legs and an upright back) naturally accommodates those two flexion points. So, it’s little wonder that the chair has been around for at...