Articles

Preliminary Results of Patients Treated with Percutaneous Hydrodiscectomy for Radiculopathy Secondary to Herniated Nucleus Pulposus

Background Data: Lumbar disc herniation is one of the leading causes of lower back pain and sciatica. If conservative treatments such as physical therapy and epidural steroid injections fail, microdiscectomy is often considered. Since microdiscectomy was first described, advancements in minimally invasive techniques, including percutaneous mechanical lumbar discectomy, to reduce intradiscal pressure on the nerve […]

When It Comes to Bone, Vitamin D Supplementation Falls Short

Bruce Soloway, MD reviewing Reid IR et al. Lancet 2013 Oct 11. In a large meta-analysis, vitamin D supplementation generally did not increase bone-mineral density. Calcium supplements, which are taken by nearly half of U.S. adults for skeletal benefits, often include vitamin D. However, the role of vitamin D supplementation itself in maintaining bone quality […]

Why Doctors Prescribe Opioids to Known Opioid Abusers

Prescription opioid abuse is an epidemic in the United States. In 2010, there were reportedly as many as 2.4 million opioid abusers in this country, and the number of new abusers had increased by 225% between 1992 and 2000.1 Sixty percent of the opioids that are abused are obtained directly or indirectly through a physician’s […]

Medicaid’s Most Costly Drugs

Hydrocodone-acetaminophen (generic Vicodin) is the most frequently prescribed drug in Medicaid from 2014 to 2015, according to a new issue brief released by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The top five most costly drugs to Medicaid currently include three specialty medications, all antivirals and all manufactured by Gilead: the hepatitis C drugs sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) and ledipasvir-sofosbuvir (Harvoni), […]

Cupping Makes Splash at Olympic Games, But Does It Really Reduce Muscle Pain?

Viewers of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, may have found themselves pondering two burning questions: How do those swimsuits that the male divers wear not come off when they hit the water, and what are those painful-looking red circles all over the swimmers’ bodies? The answer to the first question remains […]

FDA Approves Troxyca ER for Pain Management

The FDA has approved oxycodone-naltrexone extended-release (ER) capsules (Troxyca ER, Pfizer) for the management of pain severe enough to require daily, around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment and for which alternative treatment options are inadequate. Oxycodone-naltrexone ER has properties that are expected to reduce abuse when crushed and administered by the oral and intranasal routes. However, abuse […]

Does Change Occur for the Reasons We Think It Does? A Test of Specific Therapeutic Operations During Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Chronic Pain

Effectiveness and Safety of Transdermal Buprenorphine Versus Sustained-release Tramadol in Patients With Moderate to Severe Musculosketal Pain: An 8-Week, Randomized, Double-Blind, Double-Dummy, Multicenter, Active-controlled, Noninferiority Study

What Do People Who Score Highly on the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia Really Believe? A Mixed Methods Investigation in People With Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain

Living Life With My Child’s Pain: The Parent Pain Acceptance Questionaire (PPAQ)