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...
Clinical Features, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Erythema Multiforme
Erythema multiforme (EM): First described in 1866 by Ferdinand von Hebra as an acute, self-limited cutaneous disease characterized by multiform skin lesions, now called EM minor [1]. In 1950, Bernard A. Thomas classified EM into erythema multiforme minor (von Hebra)...
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...
CGRP: 4 Letters That Became a New Frontier in Pain Management
What Does CGRP Stand For? Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is a neuropeptide (neurotransmitter of the nervous system) discovered over 30 years ago. It has specific receptors located both centrally and in the periphery. CGRP is present in trigeminal neurons and...
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...
3 Elements of General Neck Examination
The evaluation of the neck provides useful information for the dental practitioner by identifying conditions that might contribute to the oral health of the patient and the appropriate function of the masticatory system. At the same time, it constitutes a triage,...
Physical Medicine and Primary Headache Pain Disorders
A headache can be a small effect of a bigger primary headache disorder. These disorders include migraines, tension type headaches, cluster headaches, or medication-overuse headaches. There are treatments both with and without the use of physical medicine. Treatment...
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...
Causes of Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system, specifically the brain and spinal cord. This disease affects women twice the amount as men. Onset commonly occurs between ages 20 and 50 years. There are many negative...
Three Types of Sympathetic Maintained Pain
The idea that sympathetic pain exists is based on clinical findings seen in a small subset of patients suffering from neuropathic pain. Sympathetic pains occurs when the pain is clearly dependent on activity in the sympathetic nervous system. This is often referred to...
How to Treat and Prevent Medication Overuse Headaches
Over 1.5% of the population experiences Medication Overuse Headaches (MOH). This type is the most common migraine-like headache. People with MOH experience pain over 15 days each month. MOH ranges higher in women (2.6%) and people over 50 years of age (nearly 5%)....
Alternative Medications to Uncommon TMJ Disorders
Motor Neurectomy Motor neurectomy involves identifying the select branches of the motor nerve and perform radiofrequency lysis of the motor nerve itself. This will denervate a portion of the motor nerve and cause a resulting atrophy of the muscle. The area of the...
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,...
Ankylosis and Facial Asymmetry Disorders
High Condylectomy & Temporal Fascia Graft In cases where the jaw opening ability is severely compromised due to ankylosis, it is necessary to perform surgical treatment of the TM joint. This involves a high condylectomy (removing approximately 4 mm on top of...
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...
7 Imaging-Based Diagnostic Tests for TMJ Disorders
1. Jaw Bone Scan with Radionucleotide Bone scans are utilized to assess bone tissue growth. It is an older technology and less specific technology (2D) than SPECT (3D), but it still has a role in diagnosis of bone scan. After the injection of the nucleotide, a gamma...
Aerobic Fitness and Chronic Low Back Pain
Millions of people suffer from chronic low back pain. Many of them tend to shy away from aerobic exercises because they fear their back will hurt more or that the exercises will be too difficult. The good news is that research supports the idea that aerobic fitness...