News by Subject Medicine & Health

Fibromyalgia patients who regularly visit their physicians are much less likely to attempt suicide than those who do not, according to a new Vanderbilt University Medical Center study published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Researchers have determined that cannabinoid drugs do not appear to reduce the intensity of experimental pain, but, instead, may make pain feel less unpleasant and more tolerable. The paper, whose publication coincides with 'Pain Awareness Month,' represents the first systematic review of experimental research into the effects of cannabis on pain.

Arthritis is common in individuals with varying degrees of depression, according to a new International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry study.

New research from University of Sydney has found home-based video-game exercises can reduce chronic low back pain in older people by 27 percent, which is comparable to benefits gained under programs supervised by a physiotherapist.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina and Brigham Young University conducted a study to observe walking biomechanics of 130 subjects who have had ACL reconstruction surgery. They found people who report lingering symptoms post-surgery either underload their injured leg (6-12 months after surgery) or overload the injured leg (after the 24-month mark), as compared to those who have had the surgery but no longer report symptoms.

A major shift in practice by the VA means that therapies such as meditation and yoga are being offered to VA patients as non-drug approaches for pain management, says Elizabeth Evans of UMass Amherst, who studied their use by gender among veterans with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

New research raises the possibility that a wider group of people battling substance use disorders may benefit from a Scripps Research-developed relapse-prevention compound than previously thought.

A major US children's hospital introduced a first-of-its-kind project to eliminate or reduce pain from elective needle procedures in all infants and children, reports a study in PAIN Reports®, part of a special issue on research innovations in pediatric pain. The official open-access journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), PAIN Reports is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

Among older Americans, the poorest are the most likely to have used prescription opioids, according to a University at Buffalo study providing new insights into unexplored contours of the opioid crisis. The study also raises important questions about access to pain management options for the disadvantaged in the current climate of the opioid epidemic.