BACKGROUND Low back pain (LBP) and fibromyalgia (FM), also known as chronic widespread pain (CWP), are highly prevalent chronic painful conditions that have substantial impact on patients, health care systems, and society. Diagnosis is complex and management strategies are associated with various levels of evidence for effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. Multidisciplinary pain services have b...

Question: Does a combination of pain self-management and antidepressant therapy improve pain and depression in people with musculoskeletal pain and depression? Design: Randomised, controlled trial with concealed allocation and blinded outcome assessment. Setting: Six primary care clinics and five tertiary outpatient clinics in the USA. Participants: Primary care patients were eligible if they h...

The appearance of pain medicine in the United States of America and, to a lesser extent, in Europe over the last four decades is the phenomenon this book describes and reflects upon. There are really three books in one here. The first is an authoritative history of North American and French pain medicine, which offers a good account of the contributions of John Bonica, Ronald Melzack, Patrick W...

OBJECTIVES The study objectives were to evaluate outcomes in patients who have received dry needling treatments and to identify predictors of pain and disability. DESIGN The study was a prospective cohort follow-up design. SETTING The study was conducted at the Pain Clinic at Pingtung Christian Hospital, Taiwan. SUBJECTS Ninety-two (92) patients sick-listed for 3 months or longer for myof...

BACKGROUND Families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) often face problems with gaining access to health care services. Information is scarce on the relationship between SES and health care delivery for children suffering from chronic pain. METHODS Families presenting to a specialized pain center (N = 1,001) provided information on 'household income, 'parental education' and 'occupation' t...

Intrauterine devices (IUD) are a highly effective and safe form of contraception. However, many individuals, particularly nulligravidas, elect against IUD use due to fear of pain associated with insertion. Misoprostol has been proposed as an agent to ease IUD insertion and decrease associated pain. However, its effi cacy in the literature is inconclusive and its use varies widely between health...

OBJECTIVES To elucidate the experiences and perceptions of people living with primary frozen shoulder and their priorities for treatment. DESIGN Qualitative study design using semistructured interviews. SETTING General practitioner (GP) and musculoskeletal clinics in primary and secondary care in one National Health Service Trust in England. PARTICIPANTS 12 patients diagnosed with primary...

There are several causes of otalgia, specifically primary otalgia, which originates inside the ear, and referred otalgia, which originates outside the ear. In a rare case, otalgia may result from myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) due to a contraction of cervical muscles. The author of this study reports a case in which otalgia caused by MPS due to contraction of the trapezius muscle was treated wi...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate pain coping as a mediator of associations between anxiety and functional disability and anxiety and somatic symptoms in adolescents with chronic pain. METHOD Participants (mean age = 14.76 years, range: 12-17 years) included 280 patients (212 girls) with chronic pain who underwent multidisciplinary evaluation at a tertiary pain clinic in a northeast pediatric hospital. P...

This study aimed to: (1) determine prevalence of depression in patients referred to specialist pain services using the Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) diagnostic interview, (2) compare results on the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) with the SCID to determine the utility of the BDI-II as a screening tool in this population. Thirty-six participants were recruited, mainly women, with a ...