Category Archives: Pain-Relief

Study Addresses How Weather Affects Pain Tolerance

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PainRelief.com Interview with:
Erlend Hoftun Farbu, PhD student
Department of Community Medicine
The Arctic University of Norway
Tromsø, Norway

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?

Response: Many report that weather affect their pain condition. Some studies confirm this, others do no. However, these studies have asked “How much pain do you have today?”

We used two tests to assess how much pain a person can tolerate. We then looked at how pain tolerance vary over time and if they are associated with weather.

The results show quite clearly that people can tolerate more pain caused by intense cold temperature in the colder months of the year. There was no such seasonal variation in pain caused by pressure to the leg. On the other hand, we found that both pressure pain tolerance and weather at one day was associated with the next days, but not the next month. When we further linked the weather and pain tolerance, we found that, for example, in some periods a rise in temperature happened at the same time as a rise in pain tolerance. While in other periods, there were no such association. We mean that this is because we adapt to the weather. For example, how we experience 5 °C (41°F) is different in autumn and spring..

Finally, temperature and barometric pressure could predict future values of pressure pain tolerance

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Acetaminophen (paracetamol) During Pregnancy May Alter Fetal Development

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PainRelief.com Interview with:
Ann Z. Bauer ScD
Department of Work Environment
University of Massachusetts Lowell | UML 

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings of the underlying studies?

Response: Acetaminophen (paracetamol, brand name Tylenol) is an over-the-counter medication used to relieve pain and reduce fever. It is an active ingredient in over 600 medications and used by more than 50% of pregnant women worldwide and up to 65% of pregnant women in the US.

Current guidance recommends acetaminophen as the pain reliever of choice during pregnancy, as other pain relievers such as ibuprofen and aspirin are contraindicated during pregnancy, particularly after 20 weeks.

In this consensus statement the authors reviewed the research on acetaminophen use during pregnancy from 1995 through 2020 and found a growing body of evidence that suggests prenatal acetaminophen exposure may alter fetal development increasing the risk of neurodevelopmental, reproductive and urogenital disorders. Importantly, this review identifies a convergence of evidence from the trifecta of research areas -human cohort studies, in vitro and animal models. This statement asking for precaution and more research was supported by a total of 91 clinicians and researchers (13 authors and 78 signatories) from around the world.

Research suggests acetaminophen is an endocrine disruptor meaning it interferes with the proper functioning of hormones, specifically it is an anti-androgen that can significantly reduce testosterone production.  Acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy has been suggested to increase the risk of male undescended testicles (cryptorchidism) and shorter anogenital distance (ADG) a marker of sub-fertility.  Additionally, research suggests increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders primarily attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related behavioral abnormalities, but also autism spectrum disorder (ASD), language delays, decreased IQ, and conduct disorders.

Many users do not consider acetaminophen to be a medication with potential side effects. There is high usage, in part, because of a perception  that use is of negligible risk.  However, because use is so common, if acetaminophen is responsible for even a small increase in individual risk it could contribute substantially to these disorders in the overall population.

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Pain Relief Study of Low Carb Ketogenic Diet

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PainRelief.com Interview with:
Rowena Field
B.App.Sc (phty) M.Physio. APAM
Physiotherapist/Director
PhD research candidate Sydney University
STEPP (solutions tools and education for persistent pain)

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?

Response: Chronic pain is a difficult problem to treat because it is multifactorial, driven by the brain continuing to arrive at the conclusion that protection is required. Turning up the sensitivity in the nervous system results in ongoing pain as a protector even though there is no new tissue damage. Other protection mechanisms such as increased inflammation, and increased sympathetic ‘fight or flight’ also occur.

Chronic pain becomes part of a whole system protective response, so looking at other treatment options that alter the system (such as diet) are useful additions to pain management. A ketogenic diet restricts carbohydrate to below 50g/day producing ketones for energy from fat. It has been used to treat epilepsy over the last two centuries and successfully reduces nervous system excitability. Many of the drugs used for chronic pain (such as Lyrica) are also anti-epileptic medications, suggesting common pathways. As well as these impacts on the nervous system, pre-clinical research has also shown ketones to be signalling molecules that reduce inflammation.

Combined with the clinical reports that pain reduction occurred when people were on ketogenic diets, it seemed reasonable to test the diet specifically in a chronic pain population.

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Knee Arthritis: Racial Differences in Treatment Patterns and Health Care Expenditures

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PainRelief.com Interview with:
Stuart L. Silverman MD FACP FACR
Clinical Professor of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA School of Medicine
Medical Director, OMC Clinical Research Center
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Dr. Silverman

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?

Response: As a practicing rheumatologist, I am aware that prior studies have shown variation in medical care, pain management and treatment with opioids by race and social economic status.  Suboptimal treatment of pain in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) may also disproportionately burden racial minorities and Medicaid recipients. 

Studies have shown that African Americans are nearly 1.5 times as likely to have symptomatic knee OA than White patients even when adjusting for other factors.  Similarly, they also have a higher prevalence of symptomatic and radiographic hip OA.  Analyses of Medicare data has shown evidence of persistent racial disparities for joint arthroplasty usage and surgical outcomes.

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Physicians Differently Prescribe Pain Relief Medications to White and Minority Patients

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PainRelief.com Interview with:
Dan P. Ly M.D., M.P.P., Ph.D.
Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?

Response: We know that minority patients were less likely to receive opioids than white patients, but this could have been due to minority patients seeing lower opioid-prescribing physicians. As far as I could tell, nobody had been able to examine whether the same physician prescribed opioids differently to their minority patients.

I find that this is the case: the same physician was less likely to prescribe opioids to their minority patients with new low back pain, and instead was more likely to prescribe NSAIDs to their minority patients. And unfortunately, this differential prescribing may have had the consequence of leading to more chronic opioid use in white patients.  

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Virtual Reality Can Provide Pain Relief for Children Getting IV Catheters

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PainRelief.com Interview with:
Dr. Jeffrey I. Gold PhD
Director Emeritus of the Pediatric Pain Medicine Clinic
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Investigator
The Saban Research Institute
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study How is the VR utilized?

Response: Virtual Reality or digital therapeutics can have a profound impact on mitigating pain, anxiety, and distress associated with routine painful medical procedures, such as blood draw and IV placement. 

PainRelief.com:  What are the main findings? Would you explain what is meant by “triangulation of data”?

Response: Virtual Reality significantly reduces pain and anxiety in children undergoing PIVC placement compared to standard of care in two pediatric medical settings (radiology and the infusion center). The triangulation of data refers to collecting data on the patient, his/her caregiver, and the healthcare provider to examine the impact of the intervention from three different perspectives.

The current study demonstrated that an effective intervention for the patient can have a positive impact (ripple effect) on the caregiver and the healthcare provider, creating a more relaxed, calm, and less distressing medical experience.

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Study Identifies Three Patterns of Medical Cannabis Use for Pain

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Dr. Deepika Slawek,

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Deepika Slawek, MD, MS, MPH (she/hers)
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine
Montefiore Medical Center
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, NY 10467

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?

Response: Medical cannabis has become increasingly available in the United States over the past 25 years and is commonly used for the management of pain. Little is known about the patterns of medical cannabis use by patients with chronic pain. This information could help providers anticipate patients’ needs and identify potential disparities in access.

We followed 99 adults in New York State who were newly certified for medical cannabis use and who were prescribed opioids over the course of 1 year. Using a latent class trajectory analysis, we identified clusters of participants based on 14-day frequency of medical cannabis use. We used logistic regression to determine factors associated with cluster membership including sociodemographic characteristics, pain, substance use, and mental health symptoms.

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Overdose Rates Increased When Pain Meds Prescribed by Multiple Providers

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PainRelief.com Interview with:
Kao-Ping Chua, MD, PhD
Department of Pediatrics
Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center,
Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health,
University of Michigan Ann Arbor

Dr. Kao-Ping Chua

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?

Response: Having overlapping opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions is a strong risk factor for opioid overdose even if these prescriptions are written by the same prescriber.

In this study of privately insured and Medicare Advantage patients, we show that the risk of overdose is even greater when the prescriptions are written by multiple prescribers. Specifically, the unadjusted risk of overdose on a day of overlap was 1.8 times higher when the prescriptions were written by multiple prescribers. After controlling for patient demographic characteristics, clinical co-morbidities, and prescribing patterns, the adjusted odds of overdose was 1.2 times higher, corresponding roughly to a 20% higher adjusted risk.

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“Empowered Relief” Program Equips Patients With Effective Pain Relief Skills

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PainRelief.com Interview with:
Beth Darnall, PhD
Director, Stanford Pain Relief Innovations Lab
Associate Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine
Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (by courtesy)
Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute (affiliate faculty)
Palo Alto, CA 94304

Dr. Darnall

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?

Best pain care integrates patient education and tools to help them manage pain and reduce their symptoms1. Multi-session psychological or “behavioral” pain treatment approaches, such as 8-session cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), are effective for equipping people with pain management skills. However, our prior research showed that patient access to these treatments is often poor, in part due to the costs and time burdens (e.g., up to 16 hours of treatment time).2

Findings from our study suggest that a one-time 2-hour pain relief skills class (“Empowered Relief”) was non-inferior to 8-session CBT for reducing multiple symptoms, including pain catastrophizing, pain intensity, and pain interference at 3 months post-treatment. We also found the single-session pain class imparted substantial reductions for pain bothersome, sleep disturbance, anxiety, fatigue and depression.

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Including a Body Map Can Help Clinicians Manage Chronic Pain

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PainRelief.com Interview with:
Ben Alter, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Director, Translational Pain Research
Division of Pain Medicine
Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Dr. Ben Alter

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?

Response: In the clinical environment, I am often asking patients where their pain is.  There is a large amount of research establishing that widespread or “all-over” pain is difficult to manage and impacts nearly every aspect of a patient’s life. In fact, a tally of body areas is involved with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia, although this is not the only diagnostic criteria. What wasn’t clear to us was whether patterns of pain across the body also impacted important facets of the pain experience.  

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