Chronic Pain News and Research

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Experts discuss how medicinal cannabis can impact opioid crisis

A multidisciplinary panel of experts discussed how medicinal cannabis can impact the opioid crisis, though clinical research to quantify this is difficult given strict federal laws

9 May 2018

New study may help customize more effective treatments for people with anxiety

Scientists have shone new light on how the human brain uses past experiences and generalizes them to future events, helping us safely navigate the world around us, a study in eLife reveals.

9 May 2018

Researchers uncover novel approach for treating neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain is the chronic, pathological pain that continues even when the cause of pain is removed. Causes include damage to nerve cells and medicines used to treat cancer.

4 May 2018

New online assessment tool can guide doctors to find the best pain treatment plan

People in chronic pain are some of the most difficult patients to treat. They have complex circumstances that medicine can't always remedy. Pain can be amplified, by depression and anxiety, genetics and quality of life. Genetics can also play a role in how people experience pain.

4 May 2018

Medical marijuana use reduces pain and need for opioid painkillers, finds study

A questionnaire of older men and women suffering from chronic pain who were given medical marijuana found that the drug significantly reduced pain and their need for opioid painkillers, Northwell Health researchers report.

2 May 2018

Studies offer leads for new approaches to treat neurological problems

Technological advances have ushered in a new era of discovery in neuroscience. The Experimental Biology 2018 meeting will feature an array of research findings on the brain and nervous system.

23 Apr 2018

Researchers use optogenetics to treat chronic pain

The finger prick from a thorn generates an immediate sensory response. In that instant, neurons at the injury site fire an electrical signal along a nerve fiber to the central nervous system. Our brain notes to avoid further encounters with thorns and the painful insult subsides.

18 Apr 2018

Direct electrical current can be delivered to nerves for blocking pain signals

Using computer models and laboratory rats, Johns Hopkins researchers have demonstrated that "direct electrical current" can be delivered to nerves preferentially, blocking pain signals while leaving other sensations undisturbed.

18 Apr 2018

People who use medical marijuana have higher rates of prescription drug use, study finds

Can medical marijuana help to fight the opioid epidemic? Many believe that it can. But a new study finds that people who use medical marijuana actually have higher rates of medical and non-medical prescription drug use--including pain relievers.

18 Apr 2018

Improving job prospects unlikely to control opioid epidemic

Improving job prospects for people in economically depressed parts of the United States is unlikely to help curb the opioid epidemic, according to a study by researchers at Princeton University. On the other hand, opioid use may actually help some women -- but not men -- stay in the labor force when they would otherwise leave because of chronic pain.

17 Apr 2018

Popular ASRA Coags app helps physicians protect patients taking anticoagulants

The popular ASRA Coags app has just been updated to combine the latest regional anesthesia/acute pain medicine and chronic pain medicine drugs, procedures, and interventions.

16 Apr 2018

Post-surgical opioids can prolong pain for more than three weeks, study shows

Giving opioids to animals to quell pain after surgery prolongs pain for more than three weeks and primes specialized immune cells in the spinal cord to be more reactive to pain, according to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder.

16 Apr 2018

Psychiatrist stays close to home and true to her childhood promise

Dr. Yamanda Edwards, the daughter of a truck driver and a stay-at-home mom, grew up just a few miles from Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center, at the time an iconic yet troubled hospital in South Los Angeles.

3 Apr 2018

Alpha brain wave frequency could help measure individual's vulnerability to pain, study finds

The frequency of alpha brain waves can be used as a measure of an individual's vulnerability to developing and experiencing pain, researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK and University of Maryland in the US have discovered.

28 Mar 2018

Opioid maker funds efforts to fight addiction: Is it ‘blood money’ or charity?

A program to give naloxone overdose-antidote kits and training to front-line officers. Funding for pill disposal boxes in pharmacies, clinics and police stations across North Carolina. A radio campaign in Connecticut warning of the dangers of opioid abuse. A new medicine to treat opioid-induced constipation.

14 Mar 2018

Pain begins differently for men and women at the cellular level, research says

New research from The University of Texas at Dallas supports the growing consensus that pain begins differently for men and women at the cellular level.

6 Mar 2018

Jury’s in: Opioids are not better than other medicines for chronic pain

A few years ago, Renea Molden’s doctors told her they wanted to take her off her opioid pills. It did not sound like good idea to her.

6 Mar 2018

New Canadian guideline lays out optimal strategies for treatment of opioid addiction

A new Canadian guideline for managing opioid use disorders lays out the optimal strategies for the treatment of opioid addiction, including recommending opioid agonist treatment with buprenorphine-naloxone as the preferred first-line treatment.

5 Mar 2018

Rocker bottom shoes help strengthen back muscles, reduce low back pain

Researchers of the Sports Physiotherapy master's degree at Valencia's CEU Cardenal Herrera university have confirmed, in a new study of their research work into back pain, that unstable shoes improve the strength of back muscles in order to maintain balance and stability when walking.

5 Mar 2018

IQuity launches pioneering RNA-based blood test to diagnose fibromyalgia

Nashville-based data science company IQuity has announced the release of IsolateFibromyalgia™, a pioneering blood test that uses RNA analysis to help health care providers accurately and quickly detect fibromyalgia syndrome.

5 Mar 2018