High Uric Acid: Beyond Gout
Did you know that high uric acid can create very different clinical presentations: the classic exquisite pain in a single joint or generalised muscle soreness?
-
-
Tendinopathy: The New Science of Pain and Repair
This summary is based on the Nature Reviews Disease Primers article “Tendinopathy” by Neal L. Millar et al. (published in 2021). It outlines the current scientific understanding of the condition’s pathology, diagnosis, and management. Overview Tendinopathy is a complex, multifaceted clinical syndrome characterised by persistent pain, localised swelling, and impaired performance. It is a spectrum of changes that occur…
-
The Complex Landscape of Pain: Why Our Experiences Differ
I. Introduction: The Enigma of Pain – Setting the StagePain, a seemingly universal experience, presents a profound paradox: while it serves as a vital alarm system, its intensity and impact vary wildly among individuals, even in response to similar injuries. It is a phenomenon that is both deeply personal and globally ubiquitous, prompting a deeper…
-
Manage Longstanding Low Back Pain by Spending Time in Nature
Study Overview The article “Being away from everything”: Exploring the importance of access to nature for individuals living with chronic low back pain, published in the Journal of Pain, investigates how nature can aid in managing chronic low back pain (cLBP). It involved ten semi-structured interviews with people averaging 50.1 years old and living with…
-
Food Choices Affect Pain
Introduction Chronic pain is a widespread issue that significantly impacts quality of life and healthcare systems. While obesity is a well-documented risk factor for chronic pain, recent evidence suggests that other factors, such as diet quality, may also play a role. A recent study explores the relationship between diet quality and body pain in adults,…
-
The Musculoskeletal Syndrome of Menopause
Wright el al. have recently published a review article on the musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause – a complex issue that affects millions of women worldwide. The Role of Estrogen in Musculoskeletal Health Estrogen plays a crucial role in maintaining bone density, muscle mass and tendon structure. It helps to: When estrogen levels decline during menopause, these processes…
-
Meditation and the Brain
Meditation can be defined as “a family of mental training practices aimed at monitoring and regulating attention, perception, emotion and physiology” (Fox and Cahn, 2019). As with other forms of learning, meditation has the potential to change the brain (neuroplasticity). Fox and Cahn (2019) reviewed decades of meditation research in a paper entitled “Meditation and…
-
Pain and Sleep
A few days ago, Krause et al. from the University of California (Berkeley), published the results of their research on the relationship between pain and sleep. They found that poor sleep quality was linked to increases in pain experience, whereas better sleep quality decreased pain. Krause notes that “the results clearly show that even very…
-
How Does Cannabis Relieve Pain?
The use of cannabis to relieve pain is controversial, not just for legal reasons but also because of the conflicting research findings with regards to its efficacy. A recent study by Martin De Vita et al., from Syracuse University in New York, looked into the effects of cannabis on pain. They selected, reviewed and analysed…
-
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Helpful for Chronic Pain
Yu et al recently published the results their study on the effects of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in people with chronic pain. The article appeared in last month’s issue of Journal of Pain. ACT “is an empirically-based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies mixed in different ways with commitment and behavior-change strategies,…