According to the Arthritis Foundation, about half of all women and one-quarter of all men will experience the stiffness and pain of osteoarthritis in their hands by the time they are 85 [1]. As the protective cartilage around the fingers breaks down over time, it...
Does Qigong Help With Chronic Pain?
Qigong may be something many people are not familiar with, but it can provide benefits that make it worth checking out. Pronounced “chi gong,” the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health reports that it’s a part of Chinese medicine that has been...
How Primary Care May Help Bring More Chronic Pain Relief
Primary care doctors around the country have many patients who suffer from chronic pain. Whether it’s from low back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, or something else, chronic pain is a major issue from coast to coast. New research sheds light on a new option that...
Have Knee Osteoarthritis? Start Moving!
Many people suffer from chronic pain due to knee osteoarthritis. For most of them, exercising is one of the last things they want to engage in. The thought of moving around to exercise creates fear that it will create more pain, or even further damage the knee...
Can Ear Acupuncture Help With Chronic Neck Pain?
We often joke about things being a pain in the neck, but for the millions of people who suffer from the condition, it’s far from funny. In fact, chronic cervical pain, or chronic neck pain, is a condition that can keep people from being as active as they would like,...
Nerve Stimulator Shows Promising Results in Reducing Chronic Pain
Millions of people around the country suffer from chronic pain. Whether it’s chronic pain in the low back, shoulder, head, or elsewhere, finding relief is of the utmost importance. The good news is that new and improved treatment options become available regularly....
Chronic Non-Malignant Pain And Its Side Effects
Q: What is chronic non-malignant pain [CNMP]? A: Nonmalignant, chronic pain (>6 months) is due to remodeling within the central nervous system. This central neural plasticity results in persistent pain even after correction of pathology. It is characterized by...
Does Acupuncture Really Work For Pain?
Q: I know that injections are commonly done to relieve pain. Is this a legitimate evidence-based treatment method with some long-term benefits for the chronic pain patient? A: A variety of needle-based and injection-based interventional therapies exist for chronic...
Using Psychological Interventions to Help Youth with Chronic Pain
It’s difficult for anyone to live with chronic pain, but it may be even more so for children. They often don’t understand why they have the pain, or the best ways to go about trying to address it. All they know is that they hurt, and they usually turn to the adults in...
Change Your Thoughts, Reduce Your Pain Severity
Chronic pain is something that millions of people feel, and it can be debilitating for many. There are additional problems that people face that often go along with chronic pain, such as depression and anxiety. Another powerful thing that is often associated with...
Smoking Cessation to Help with Chronic Pain
Millions of people around the country suffer from chronic pain. Some of them are also smokers, which is likely making their pain worse. Being able to quit smoking may bring some pain relief to those who smoke. Many people who smoke struggle with successful ways to...
Botulinum Toxin Type A Helps with Bruxism
According to the Sleep Foundation, up to 50% of children experience sleep bruxism, around 15% of adolescents do, and around 8% of adults experience the condition [1]. Bruxism, when someone has an involuntary habit of clenching and grinding their teeth, can lead to...
Is It Easier to Lose Weight After Reducing Chronic Pain?
We have known for a while now that there are links between chronic pain and obesity. Many people who are obese tend to experience chronic pain, and those who have chronic pain may experience more obesity. The two conditions can influence each other, so researchers set...
Does Discontinuing Long-Term Opioid Therapy Relieve Pain?
This article was originally published on Confronting Chronic Pain by Dr. Steven Richeimer, Director Pain Medicine Master and Certificate. Many of the people who take opioids regularly to help with their chronic pain may cringe at the thought of...
Treat Chronic Headache Pain With Mindfulness-Based Dancing
Chronic headache pain is something millions of people experience. It’s a condition that reduces quality of life and leaves people scrambling for answers as they look for ways to find relief. One of the last places they would likely look is to the dance floor, but new...
Kinesiology Taping Can Reduce Chronic Low Back Pain
Many people are familiar with kinesiology taping. This is the use of special tape to help address areas on the body that have pain or injury. Athletes have been taping particular areas of their body where there is pain for decades. This leads to the question: what...
The Impact of Health-Related Guilt and Chronic Pain
Millions of people who suffer from chronic pain also feel guilty about doing so. The guilt that many people who have chronic pain experience is something that has not been looked at much within the medical community, but it is something that impacts people on a daily...
Nerve Stimulation in Chronic Ocular Pain Management
For those who suffer from chronic ocular pain, it can be debilitating. Not only does it tend to reduce one’s quality of life, but the ongoing pain can be difficult for the medical community to treat. The more tools we obtain to try to help bring about relief, the...
Does Tobacco Impact Chronic Pain?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14 out of every 100 adults in the U.S. smoke cigarettes, which is around 14% of the adult population. They also report that it is one of the leading causes of preventable disease, disability, and death in...
How to Manage Chronic Joint Pain in the Workplace
Millions of people suffer from chronic joint pain. Some have chronic knee pain, others have chronic hip pain, and still others have chronic low back pain. This can impede their ability to do their job in a sufficient manner, and may even lead them to miss days at work...
Can a Short Walk Help Relieve Fibromyalgia Pain?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 2% of the adult population in the country has fibromyalgia [1]. The condition causes widespread chronic pain all over the body. As well as impacting one’s quality of life and sleep, it can cause...
Effects of Chronic Low Back Pain on Driving
Most adults around the country take driving for granted. It’s something they do on a regular basis, whether it’s just to go to work or to run errands and do the grocery shopping. But for the millions of people who suffer from chronic low back pain, driving may pose...
Can Equine-Assisted Therapy Relieve Chronic Pain?
Many people love horses. They enjoy watching their grace and beauty, and many will even try riding them. For years, people have touted the benefits of horseback riding or spending time with horses for those with a myriad of conditions, including autism, Down syndrome,...
Walking vs. Yoga: Which Helps Chronic Low Back Pain?
Millions of people suffer from chronic low back pain. They are often looking for alternative or natural ways to get some relief. Two options that have been touted over the years are walking and doing yoga. While there have been studies that showed they were both...