| Article
Why/how do NSAIDs do what they do? They are used for their anti-inflammatory effects, but is that all? Research published in Immunity examined an NSAID subset that activates nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2). NRF2 controls some genes that participate in processes including...
| Article
The British Journal of Anaesthesia reports a study, the largest of its kind, of 10 hospitals in the US, Australia, Germany, Israel, and other countries. Researchers determined that at least 5% of people under general anesthesia responded to commands and questions about their level of pain—called...
| Article
“Meta-analyses suggest that mindfulness interventions have positive effects on mental health.” Researchers looked at mindfulness interventions via 146 randomized controlled trials equaling a total of 10,979 people. Whether assigned to a mindfulness based treatment group or a comparison group, mental...
| Article
A traumatic injury is defined as one that occurs suddenly, with a degree of severity. If patients are given opioids by emergency medical services (EMS), how does it affect their later pain levels? Researchers, publishing in the Injury journal, identified over 3,800,000 injured patients via data from...
| Article
The Journal of Medical Internet Research has published an article on the use of smartphones to help combat chronic pain. 209 patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain were randomized to an intervention group, with web-based psychosocial therapy through a smartphone, while the control group could...
| Article
A patient asks you if medical marijuana would help with their rheumatic pain. What do you say? In a literature review published in Current Rheumatology Reports, researchers explored the efficacy of medical marijuana for the pain of rheumatic diseases. The study states, “Observational and survey...
| Article
Last week, the Daily Dose highlighted health inequities in pain management after giving birth, and the different treatment of Black vs White women. What about medically underserved areas (MUAs)? A study in the Journal of Pain Research compared two areas of the United States (southern Minnesota and...
| Article
Finger joint osteoarthritis is experienced by half of men over age 60 and half of women over age 50, causing pain and decreased strength and range of motion. An article in the journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery reports an alternative to conventional surgery for patients with arthritic...
| Article
“…patients in racial and ethnic minority groups have a 60% increased risk of experiencing severe postpartum pain and are 20% less likely to receive opioids for postpartum pain” than non-Hispanic White women. That disparity is being addressed in an article in JAMA Network Open, specifically the use...
| Article
Although up to 60% of patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) also have chronic pain, the conditions have been mostly studied separately. A $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Helping End Addiction Long-term Initiative to the Wake Forest University School of Medicine hopes to...