Pain Management in Medical Rheumatologic Diseases
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen “When a patient with arthritis walks in the front door, I feel like leaving out the back door.”—Sir William Osler Pain is the most common presenting…
Low Back Pain
EPIDEMIOLOGY Print Section Listen Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability in adults under 45 years of age, the second most common cause of missed work days…
Facetogenic Pain
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen More than 60% of people in developed countries will experience spinal pain at some time in their lives. Back pain is the most common complaint of…
Failed Back Surgery
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is a nonspecific term that has probably outlived its usefulness as we learned more about the problem, but the phrase remains…
When Psychotherapy Is Indicated in the Management of Pain
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen When the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) arrived at a definition of pain that included the “emotional experience,” as well as the “unpleasant…
Mind/Body Interventions in the Management of Chronic Pain
SCIENCE Print Section Listen MECHANISMS OF MIND–BODY THERAPIES In the field of Western medicine, we still do not fully grasp how and why many pain conditions develop—why a scanner gun…
Psychosocial Assessment of Chronic Pain
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Why does one patient develop chronic pain and face disability, while another—with seemingly the same injuries, extent of tissue damage, and quality of medical care—recovers and…
Botulinum Toxins for the Treatment of Headaches
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Since the 1980s, botulinum toxins (BTXs) have been used for many putative conditions that cause pain. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved BTX…
Facial Pain
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The diagnosis and management of patients with facial pain can be daunting even to experienced physicians. The causes are myriad, ranging from the mundane (sinus and…
