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Nutrition is a critical, yet often overlooked, component of chronic pain management. Food choices—how you nourish your body—and the amount of food consumed can determine how you feel and how your body reacts. Many painful conditions (carpal tunnel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, lower back pain, fibromyalgia, gout, migraines, headaches and more) can be improved by […]
In patients with painful diabetic neuropathy, a single high-dose intramuscular injection of vitamin D appears to confer a significant reduction in symptoms, according to study data. Rayaz A. Malik, MBChB, PhD, professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar, and colleagues evaluated 143 adults (mean age, 52 years) with type 1 or type 2
Manipulation under anesthesia (MUA) is a noninvasive stretching and manipulative technique. MUA may be performed to offer relief from chronic and recurrent back pain and other types of pain that have not responded to long-term conservative (ie, nonsurgical) care. MUA breaks up adhesions (internal scar tissue that can result from injury or surgery) and may
What is Degenerative Disc Disease? Degenerative Disc Disease (or DDD) is caused by degeneration of the discs in the spinal column. Age can cause this, but most of the time it is cause by some sort of trauma to the spine. People with bulging or herniated disc almost always have this disease, as well as
If you’re looking for an alternative to pain medication, reflexology may be an option. Find out if you could benefit from this form of massage. Sometimes pain therapy can be downright relaxing. Although getting a massage may conjure up the image of a spa rather than a medical office, reflexology, which involves the placement of
Psychologists are exploring complementary therapies and integrated approaches to better treat the complex problem of chronic pain. If cancer is “the emperor of all maladies,” as physician and author Siddhartha Mukherjee wrote, chronic pain may be the empress, affecting 100 million people in the United States and costing up to $630 billion each year in
Severe, uncontrolled pain may exhaust the adrenal gland, resulting in low levels of pregnenolone and cortisol. While adequate pain control will usually normalize serum hormone levels, opioid-induced suppression of the system may require additional treatment. The effect of severe, persistent pain on the hormone system is profoundly negative.1-5 If the patient’s hormone system is not
More than 100 million people in the United States have chronic conditions that won’t go away. Many fail to get relief from pills, shots and surgery, while others trade the sensation for unwanted side effects. These side effects can include such things as drowsiness or digestive problems. Unfortunately, too many can become addicted to medications
More than 8 million people in the U.S. suffer from chronic, or non-healing, wounds. While underlying causes of chronic wounds vary from patient to patient, they frequently occur in patients with diabetes, and often on the foot. Approximately one in four people with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer in his or her lifetime, potentially
While chronic pelvic pain is prevalent in women, it is often under diagnosed and inadequately treated. The differential diagnosis and the role of pelvic floor physical therapy are key factors in the successful treatment of the many types of chronic pelvic pain. Q: Is zero pain an achievable goal in the treatment of chronic pelvic
