Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common reasons for physician appointments. However, treatment results remain suboptimal, resulting in high rates of chronic pain, narcotic usage, surgery, depression and disability—all at great cost to individuals and the nation. One reason for this is the current practice of grouping all low back pain patients…
(Reuters Health)—Water- or land-based exercise should provide some short-term benefit in pain management for hip osteoarthritis, though there are few well-designed trials testing it, according to a new review. “It is nice to finally have some hip-specific data, as hip and knee osteoarthritis are often grouped together, and it’s almost certain that there are differences…
The FDA has approved two drugs designed to manage pain: buprenorphine for chronic pain and meloxicam capsules for OA pain. Lesurinad is also closer to FDA approval for treating gout…
New research explores the correlation between insomnia and pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). After conducting a multimodal sleep study, researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore uncovered a combined effect between catastrophizing and disturbed sleep, resulting in increased pain sensitivity, specifically central sensitization, for knee OA…
Severe and disabling joint pain has been connected to the use of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors and combination therapies for diabetes, prompting a new FDA warning…
LONDON (Reuters)—Pfizer suffered a major setback in Britain on Thursday when the High Court in London ruled that claims of patent protection for the use of its $5 billion-a-year drug Lyrica as a pain treatment were invalid. Lyrica, known generically as pregabalin, was originally developed for epilepsy. However, further research showed it could also help patients…
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday filed a lawsuit seeking a court order allowing it to promote its post-surgery pain drug, Exparel (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension), for a wide range of surgeries, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration opposes. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, cites another New York judge’s recent…
(Reuters)—A class of diabetes drugs that include Merck & Co Inc.’s Januvia has been linked with severe joint pain, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday. The FDA said it had identified 33 cases of severe joint pain in patients taking a class of drugs known as DPP-4 inhibitors between Oct. 16, 2006,…
As the Oct. 1 deadline to transition to ICD-10 approaches, the CMS has released multiple resources, including a joint guidance statement with the AMA that details one year of claims leniency to help physicians adjust to the new coding system and smooth the transition process…
Editor’s note: In this recurring feature, we first present a series of images (this page) for your review, and then a brief discussion of the findings and diagnosis (p. 63). Before you turn to the discussion, examine these images carefully and draw your own conclusions. History For the discussion, click here. A 55-year-old man on…