Despite being related to a large variety of nerve lesions, neuropathic pain syndromes share common clinical symptoms and signs that are the result of particular mechanisms and necessitate specific management [1]. It therefore makes sense to examine the value of verbal descriptors and pain qualities as a basis for distinguishing neuropathic pain from other types of chronic pain. Pionneer work by...

OBJECTIVE To describe experience with a chronic pain management programme in Hong Kong Chinese patients. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING Regional hospital, Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS Patients with chronic pain who participated in the first six Comprehensive Out-patient Pain Engagement programmes between 2002 and 2005. INTERVENTION Comprehensive Out-patient Pain Engagement is a 14-day str...

BACKGROUND Pain and musculoskeletal complaints are among the most common symptoms in the general population. Despite their epidemiological, clinical and health economic importance, prevalence data on pain and musculoskeletal complaints for Germany are scarce. METHODS A cross-sectional survey of a random sample of citizens of Herne, Germany, aged ≥ 40 years was performed. A detailed self-compl...

OBJECTIVE This prospective observational study of the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), Oswestry Disability Index, Lithuanian version of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain was performed to evaluate their effectiveness in the additional preoperative screening of patients with disc herniation disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS In the present study, we investigate...

OBJECTIVE To explore whether coping strategy use predicted levels of adjustment in chronic low back pain after controlling for the influence of catastrophic thinking and self-efficacy for pain control. METHODS Eighty-four patients with chronic low back pain completed the Coping Strategies Questionnaire, a pain VAS and the Roland Disability Questionnaire. To derive composite measures of coping...