As clinicians, we are familiar with pain, stiffness and soreness—subjective nouns that define our métier. These helpful words serve as signposts that direct us along the path to the proper diagnosis. Consider the young man with a stiff, sore back (a case of ankylosing spondylitis?) or the postpartum woman experiencing newly painful, stiff and sore…
For patients living with rheumatic diseases, the benefits of physical therapy and exercise cannot be overstated. “Working with a physical therapist provides a chance for careful evaluation of how the patient is moving and experiencing pain,” says Maura Iversen, BSc, PT, DPT, SD, MPH…
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Successful management of pain remains a challenge for rheumatologists. Five research abstracts presented at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in a session titled Pain—Basic and Clinical Aspects offered new insights on pain sensitization, and the risks and effects of various pain therapies. Knee Pain After Surgery Can we predict which patients will have longer-term…
Brain imaging can distinguish fibromyalgia patients from healthy controls with high sensitivity and specificity, according to two papers published nearly simultaneously in Pain late last summer, by groups at the Universities of Colorado and Michigan, respectively. Somewhat surprisingly to the authors and others, in the Colorado study, which used both painful and nonpainful stimuli, the…
WASHINGTON, D.C.—As treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) improve, some related conditions that used to be common in patients with RA are not seen very often anymore, but they still exist and physicians need to know how to identify them. Speaking to attendees at the ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting talk titled Rheumatoid Arthritis—A Case-Based Approach to Selected…
“To err is human.” —Alexander Pope (1688–1744) The Wisest Minds in Medicine At some point during our careers, we have the privilege of meeting a physician so talented that everyone else pales in comparison. These are those gifted clinicians whose astonishing mastery of medicine makes everyone in their midst feel like inept, babbling fools. They…
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Rheumatology researchers look for next-generation treatments, healthy interventions, and genetic and microbial clues to disease pathogenesis and therapy response, according to new studies presented at a Nov. 15, 2016, press conference at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. OA & Physical Function How do you know when a patient with knee osteoarthritis (OA) has the…
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Addressing a gathering of healthcare providers at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting concurrent session titled, Pediatric Rheumatology for the Adult Rheumatologist, part of the ACR Review Course, expert Sangeeta Sule, MD, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics specializing in rheumatology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, displayed a color-coded map of the U.S. on which…
WASHINGTON, D.C.—“Rheumatic manifestations are [often] the initial presentation of a systemic disease, but they can [also] occur during the course of the disorder,” said Joseph Markenson, MD, speaking in the ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting talk, Rheumatic Manifestations of Endocrine Disease, during the ACR Review Course. Dr. Markenson is professor of clinical medicine and a rheumatologist at Weill…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Members of the military and firefighters are at increased risk of osteoarthritis (OA), a new systematic review shows. “Osteoarthritis is more common in people who are tactical athletes, people who are firefighters and military service members, than it is in the general population,” Dr. Kenneth Cameron of Keller Army Hospital in West…