Regenerative Medicine the Pain Management Alternative

Injuries happen to almost everyone, but for some they can be far worse. For those with chronic pain, arthritis and a host of other ailments, it can mean a lifetime of discomfort. While many of those symptoms can be treated, it’s often with invasive surgery or only partially effective treatments like cortisone shots. Regenerative medicine offers an alternative to going under the knife, while achieving lasting results. Relievus, a pain management and neurology specialist practice, offers these treatments at both its Havertown and Philadelphia locations. Here, clinician Dr. Uplekh Purewal offers insight. Q: What is regenerative medicine? A: It’s a form…
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Advancing Pain Management Medicine: Human Studies

Nearly every advance in modern medicine, from diagnosis to treatment, has benefited from animal studies. Basic research has made vital contributions to all aspects of medical care, including our understanding of pain pathophysiology. However, the applicability of these findings to humans remains limited. “Translation from animal to human is hindered by many obstacles, in particular with the subject of pain, where the human organism and mind interact in quite a unique way,” Claudia Sommer, MD, a professor of neurology at the University of Würzburg in Germany, told Clinical Pain Advisor. Even so, valuable insights have been gained by the direct…
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Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy Management

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy affects approximately 60-70% of diabetic patients and a total of 347 million people worldwide.1 This complication is not only associated with painful symptoms, but can also lead to significant consequences such as paresthesia, loss of sensation, ulcers, osteomyelitis, gangrene, foot deformities, and amputation. Common symptoms of diabetic peripheral neuropathy are listed in Table 1. Because the symptoms and complications of diabetic peripheral neuropathy can lead to a significant decrease in a patient's quality of life, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the various treatment options available in the management of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Unfortunately, treating…
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Regenerative Stem Cell Therapy for Knees & Shoulders

The power of the body to heal itself is amazingly evident in a promising newer treatment known as regenerative stem cell therapy. Which orthopedic surgeon Kevin D. Plancher, MD, founder of Plancher Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, is tapping more frequently to help restore pain-free movement in patients with stubborn knee or shoulder problems. A branch of healthcare known as regenerative medicine, stem cell therapy uses immature, self-renewing cells found in the bone marrow to rejuvenate a wide variety of tissues. This rapidly evolving field, the focus of mounting research, is helping people heal faster and more naturally. As well as…
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Substance P: new chemical capable of controlling pain

Recently scientists have found a substance that activates pain along the central nervous system. This substance is also able to decrease pain in the peripheral nervous system. It was named Substance P. And may be the reason many pain management drugs appear to be successful amid laboratory tests. As well as unsatisfactory in real-life circumstances. The study was published in the journal Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, on June 15. Explaining how scientists from Hebei Medical University, and the University of Leeds came across Substance P. It is a peptide that promotes pain responses of different kinds through the nervous system. Substance…
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Tarantula toxin untangles pain pathways

A toxin isolated from the Togo starburst tarantula provides new insights into pain mechanisms and could lead to new treatments for irritable bowel syndrome. With their large, hairy bodies and long legs, tarantulas are an arachnophobe’s worst nightmare. For pain researchers, however, these outsized spiders are a dream come true: Their venom contains a cocktail of toxins, each of which activates pain-sensing nerve fibers in different ways, and researchers in the United States have now identified one such toxin that will help them to better understand pain, and could also lead to treatments for the chronic pain associated with irritable…
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Blocking Intracellular Glutamate May Halt Neuropathic Pain

Experiments to block receptors deep within spinal neurons, metabotropic glutamate 5 receptors (mGluR5), may open the door to more effective treatments for neuropathic pain. Understanding how the body processes pain is essential to understanding how to better treat it. Aiding in that understanding has been intense research on one of the key players that transmit nociceptive information through the body. G-protein-couple receptors (GPCRs) play a critical role in various bodily functions, including as a mediator of neuroplasticity underlying chronic pain.  One specific receptor, metabotropic glutamate 5 receptor (mGluR5), is heavily abundant in the dorsal horn (DH),1,2 prime real estate for…
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Stem Cells for Personalized Pain Therapy Testing

Using patient-derived stem cells, researchers create laboratory neuron models that reflect a patient’s response to a pain drug. Pain can be tough to take, and it’s also difficult to study: rodent models for pain do not necessarily translate to human pain conditions and expression of disease-causing mutations in cell lines may not precisely mimic the physiology of human pain disorders. Now, researchers have developed a new way to test pain—and, potentially, other sensory-targeting medications. Edward Stevens and James Bilsland of the Pfizer’s U.K.-based neuroscience and pain research units and their colleagues have shown that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived…
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Full-length Protein Involved in Chronic Pain

Researchers Map Full-length Protein Involved in Chronic Pain, with Hopes for Future Therapies Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers have discovered the full-length structure of a protein named Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid subtype 2 (TRPV2), with implications for the development of new treatments for chronic pain and cancer. The paper, “Structure of the full-length TRPV2 channel by cryo-EM,” was published in Nature Communications. Researchers led by Dr. Vera Moiseenkova-Bell had previously established the link between TRPV2’s molecular mechanism in a study published in December 2015 in Molecular and Cellular Biology, titled “Nerve Growth Factor Regulates Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 2 via Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Signaling…
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Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy

The incidence of type 2 diabetes has increased strikingly in the last several decades. Accompanying this development has been an increase in the incidence of diabetic neuropathy, leading to progressive pain, loss of sensation (primarily in the feet), weakness, and disability. Conventional therapy has consisted largely of attempts to control the diabetes and to moderate the pain. Pulsed Electromagnetic Field therapy (PEMF) is a safe, and non-invasive way to reduce pain and inflammation. It can be used to supplement and enhance currently existing healthcare modalities. The PEMF apparatus includes various devices including full body mats, localized pad applicators, and pinpointed probe or…
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