Pain News and Research

Latest Pain News and Research

Researchers design a more comfortable, reliable glucose monitor for people with diabetes

A more comfortable and reliable blood-sugar monitoring system is being designed by researchers in Sweden for people with diabetes. After successfully testing a prototype of a microneedle patch on a human subject, the completion of a system for clinical tests is now underway.

3 Jan 2019

Telemedicine may improve patient satisfaction with medical care, study suggests

Cardiovascular disease pervades Appalachia, yet many Appalachians live far from any heart and vascular specialist. Follow-up doctor's visits in the weeks after cardiovascular surgery can involve hours-long drives down narrow, winding roads.

3 Jan 2019

New wireless and battery-free implant to control targeted neuron groups

University of Arizona biomedical engineering professor Philipp Gutruf is first author on the paper Fully implantable, optoelectronic systems for battery-free, multimodal operation in neuroscience research, published in Nature Electronics.

3 Jan 2019

Sexual function in women with vulva pain improved with oral nerve pain medication

Women with chronic pain or discomfort around the vulva showed improved sexual function with an oral nerve pain medication used to treat pain caused by a previous herpes infection as well as fibromyalgia, according to a Rutgers study.

2 Jan 2019

Device uses light to treat overactive bladder

Researchers have developed an implantable device that could one day treat overactive bladder.

2 Jan 2019

Study finds wide variation in neuraxial analgesia use in pregnant women across the United States

Pain relief for pregnant women in labor is commonly given in the form of epidural, spinal or combined spinal-epidural blockade, which is collectively referred to as neuraxial analgesia.

31 Dec 2018

Sound can affect perception of touch in mice

Our eyes, ears and skin are responsible for different senses. Moreover, our brain assigns these senses to different regions: the visual cortex, auditory cortex and somatosensory cortex. However, it is clear that there are anatomical connections between these different cortices such that brain activation to one sense can influence brain activation to another

30 Dec 2018

Gently stroking babies could provide effective pain relief before medical procedures

Researchers found that gently stroking a baby seems to reduce activity in the infant brain associated with painful experiences. Their results, appearing December 17 in the journal Current Biology, suggest that lightly brushing an infant at a certain speed--of approximately 3 centimeters per second--could provide effective pain relief before clinically necessary medical procedures.

27 Dec 2018

Researchers discover extent of opioid use and abuse in head and neck cancer patients

Cancer patients are often prescribed pain medications, for example during recovery from surgical procedures. However, for many cancer patients, the use of opioid pain medications during treatment can be a gateway to misuse or addiction once treatment ends.

27 Dec 2018

New study reveals twist in how intoxication happens

As New Year's Eve approaches, many people will experience the familiar buzz that comes from imbibing a favorite cocktail or glass of wine.

27 Dec 2018

Brain activity found to be predictive of pain-related fear

Researchers applied a machine learning technique that could potentially translate patterns of activity in fear-processing brain regions into scores on questionnaires used to assess a patient's fear of pain. This neuroscientific approach, reported in eNeuro, may help reconcile self-reported emotions and their neural underpinnings.

25 Dec 2018

Researchers report uncertainty around long-term effectiveness of medications to control knee osteoarthritis pain

Managing osteoarthritis requires long-term treatment for symptoms such as pain and changes in joint structure that can lead to disability.

24 Dec 2018

New treatment for adults with rare, life-threatening blood disease receives FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Ultomiris (ravulizumab) injection for the treatment of adult patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a rare and life-threatening blood disease.

21 Dec 2018

Study examines opioid prescribing rates for pediatric patients in EDs

Opioids for pain management in pediatric patients are sometimes necessary but their use has raised concerns about the effects of opioids and later abuse.

21 Dec 2018

New vaccine shows promise against chikungunya virus

A live vaccine genetically engineered from a common measles vaccine promises to be effective against the chikungunya virus. Such is the central finding of a recently completed Phase II trial now published in the prestigious journal "The Lancet".

21 Dec 2018

FDA warns against use of jewelry to relieve teething pain in children

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration alerted parents, caregivers and health care providers to the safety risks that jewelry used for relieving teething pain pose for children.

21 Dec 2018

Self-powered bandage generates electricity, reduces healing time for skin wounds in rats

Skin has a remarkable ability to heal itself. But in some cases, wounds heal very slowly or not at all, putting a person at risk for chronic pain, infection and scarring. Now, researchers have developed a self-powered bandage that generates an electric field over an injury, dramatically reducing the healing time for skin wounds in rats.

19 Dec 2018

Galectins play a key role in the degeneration of cartilage in osteoarthritis

A network of carbohydrate binding proteins - so-called galectins - plays an important role in the degeneration of cartilage in osteoarthritis.

19 Dec 2018

New study adds evidence to efficacy and safety of low-dose vaginal estrogen

Despite its proven effectiveness in treating the genital symptoms of menopause, low-dose vaginal estrogen therapy remains underused largely because of misperceptions regarding its safety.

19 Dec 2018

Pregnant women and extremely obese people at high risk of flu complications

Pregnant women and the extremely obese are among those at high risk for complications from the flu - including death - and should be tested and begin antiviral treatment promptly if they are sick enough to be hospitalized with flu symptoms, according to updated guidelines released by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

19 Dec 2018