| Article
It’s pretty remarkable that mindfulness meditation can be more powerful than morphine. Morphine has been shown to, on average, reduce chronic pain by about 25%. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to, on average, reduce chronic pain by about 40% and in some cases up to 93% with short-term and...
| Podcast
Effective pain management has been deemed a human right, but some chronic pain patients perceive that to mean they are entitled to opioid analgesics for prolonged pain control. In response to these expectations, providers may feel pressured to say "Yes" and continue prescribing opioids, thereby...
| Podcast
Step right up and receive all the updates on alternative routes of administration to the oral and intravenous route. In this lively session the pharmacology of rectal, sublingual, topical, and subcutaneous routes of opioid therapy in the setting of palliative care will be discussed. For each...
| Podcast
Counterfeiting is big business. In 2012, counterfeit auto parts accounted for $4 billion in the US and $12 billion globally; electrical parts were $15 billion; personal care $4 billion; aerospace & defense accounted for 520,000 counterfeit parts in the US, and >5% of wine sold on the secondary...
| Podcast
The science of drug testing in chronic pain has advanced rapidly over the past few years. Yet there is still confusion around optimal test choices, frequencies, and what test results actually provide. Today's definitive drug testing technology can help to identify more than the simple "presence or...
| Podcast
The prescription drug problem in America has led to many guidelines and, in some cases, regulations aimed at stemming the tide of prescription drug abuse. Some are evidence based, but most are driven by fear and an overwhelming need to do "something." Unfortunately, while these guidelines have...
| Podcast
Acupuncture has been used for centuries to treat pain; however, multiple recent randomized controlled trials of acupuncture in chronic pain disorders have largely shown mixed findings. In most of these studies acupuncture is no better than sham/placebo. Moreover, many basic as well as clinical...
| Podcast
The prescribers of opioid medications for pain and addiction are under heavy scrutiny from state regulators, law enforcement, and plaintiffs' attorneys. With benzodiazepine related overdose deaths quadrupling between 2001 and 2013, and sedative induced impairment garnering increasing attention in...
| Podcast
Despite the increase in prescriptions of pain medication and interventional procedures to treat pain, there is scant evidence from population based research that these treatments have been successful in reducing pain associated functional impairment. This is because successful treatment of chronic...
| Podcast
On September 16, 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hosted a public webinar where they revealed a draft of their 12 prescribing guidelines for chronic pain. Due to technical difficulties, the entire process was repeated the following day. Concerns over the way the guidelines...