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Chronic Pain Care and Management

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A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Pain Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 14765

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Min Cheol Chang

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Guest Editor

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yeungnam University Hospital, Daegu 42415, Korea
Interests: chronic pain; spine; brain; peripheral nerve; intervention; ultrasound
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Acute pain has a protective advisory function; it indicates that a lesion has occurred, and it triggers reactions that prevent the lesion from exacerbating. Pain that persists for 3 or more months is called chronic pain. Acute pain can be managed by identifying and treating the cause. However, when the pain becomes chronic, the protective function is lost, and the agonizing aspect remains; hence, the pain becomes the target of treatment instead of the cause. For example, when a fire alarm goes off, the site of the fire should be located as opposed to turning off the alarm, but if the alarm continues to go off even after the fire has been extinguished, the fire alarm will have to be fixed. Some cases of chronic pain are easily resolved, but in many cases, treatment is challenging. Uncontrolled chronic pain results in the deterioration of patients’ quality of life and loss of productivity. Therefore, chronic pain should be aggressively treated and researched. Various modalities, including exercise, physiotherapy, pharmacological therapy, procedure, surgery, and psychological therapy, are used to control chronic pain. These modalities may be combined in cases of pain that are inadequately controlled with single treatment modalities. This Special Issue on “Chronic Pain Care and Management” will cover various effective treatment techniques for controlling chronic pain. Particularly, we ask authors to include a discussion of specific mechanisms of chronic pain control of the treatment modalities understudied in their manuscripts to further readers’ understanding of the treatments for chronic pain.

Dr. Min Cheol Chang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

chronic pain
management
care
intervention
mechanism

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 596 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Differences between the Sexes in the Relationship between Chronic Pain, Fatigue, and QuickDASH among Community-Dwelling Elderly People in Japan

by Satoshi Shimo, Yuta Sakamoto, Takashi Amari, Masaaki Chino, Rie Sakamoto and Masanori Nagai

Healthcare 2021, 9(6), 630; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/healthcare9060630 - 25 May 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1717

Abstract

Chronic pain and fatigue have negative effects on the health, ADL, work, and hobbies of the elderly. As the proportion of people 65 years of age and older in the population increases, chronic pain and disability research regarding this group is receiving more consideration. However, little empirical evidence of the association between chronic pain, fatigue, and physical disability between the sexes is available. This study investigated the association between chronic pain, fatigue, and instrumental activities of daily living among community-dwelling elderly people by sex in Japan. Concerning the presence of chronic pain, 61% of males and 78% of females reported chronic pain, indicating that many elderly people living in the community suffer from chronic pain and fatigue on a daily basis. The number of sites of chronic pain was higher in females than in males (p = 0.016), with more chronic pain in the knees (p < 0.001) and upper arms (p = 0.014). Regarding chronic pain, males showed a higher correlation with QuickDASH-DS (rs = 0.433, p = 0.017) and QuickDASH-SM (rs = 0.643, p = 0.018) than females. Furthermore, fatigue also showed a higher correlation with QuickDASH-W (rs = 0.531, p = 0.003) in males than in females. These results indicate that the association between chronic pain, fatigue, and QuickDASH differed between the sexes among community-dwelling elderly people in Japan. A better understanding of the risk factors for elderly chronic pain and fatigue among sexes will facilitate the development of elderly healthcare welfare and policies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chronic Pain Care and Management)

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10 pages, 355 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Mulligan Mobilization and Low-Level Laser Therapy on Physical Disability, Pain, and Range of Motion in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

by U-Hyeok Seo, Jung-Hee Kim and Byoung-Hee Lee

Healthcare 2020, 8(3), 237; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/healthcare8030237 - 29 Jul 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5169

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the combined treatment effects of Mulligan sustained natural apophyseal glides (SNAGs) and low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on function, pain, and range of motion (ROM) in patients with chronic low back pain. A total of 49 adults participated in this study and were randomly divided into three groups (SNAGs with LLLT group, SNAGs group, and control group). The participants in the SNAGs with LLLT group received SNAGs for 10 min, LLLT for 10 min, and electrotherapy for 10 min. The SNAGs group received SNAGs for 10 min and electrotherapy for 20 min. The control group received electrotherapy for 30 min. All participants received the assigned treatment for 30 min a day, 3 times a week, for 4 weeks. We used the visual analogue scale (VAS) to measure pain, the modified-modified Schober test (MMST) to measure ROM, and the Roland Morris disability questionnaire (RMDQ) to measure physical disability. Compared to the pre-intervention values, the VAS and MMST scores significantly increased after the intervention in the SNAGs with LLLT group (p = 0.000) and the SNAGs group (p = 0.000). The RMDQ score significantly improved in the SNAGs with LLLT (p = 0.000), SNAGs (p = 0.000) and control (p = 0.025) group after the intervention. The inter-group differences were greater for the SNAGs with LLLT and SNAGs groups than for the control group (p = 0.001), and the difference was greater for the SNAGs with LLLT than for the SNAGs (p = 0.001) with respect to the VAS, MMST, and RMDQ scores. These results indicate that significant improvement in pain, function, and ROM may be achieved by a combination of SNAGs and LLLT to treat chronic low back pain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chronic Pain Care and Management)

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11 pages, 1007 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Greater Postural Sway and Tremor during Balance Tasks in Patients with Plantar Fasciitis Compared to Age-Matched Controls

by Jerrold Petrofsky, Robert Donatelli, Michael Laymon and Haneul Lee

Healthcare 2020, 8(3), 219; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/healthcare8030219 - 20 Jul 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2925

Abstract

Plantar fasciitis (PF) is a common condition found in men and women and can reoccur throughout life. PF is commonly diagnosed by prolonged foot pain lasting more than 3 months and a plantar fascia over 0.4 mm thick, as measured using ultrasound imaging. This study examined the ability to balance and the occurrence of muscle tremor during different balance tasks in patients with PF compared to their control counterparts. Fifty subjects (25 patients with PF and 25 control subjects) participated in this study. Subjective pain (measured with a visual analog scale (VAS)), pressure pain threshold (PPT), and postural sway and tremor during eight different balance tasks were measured. Postural sway was measured by a balance platform, while tremor was measured as the mechanical movement of the platform in the 8 Hz frequency range. Thickness of plantar fascia, subjective pain, and PPT were significantly greater in the PF group compared to the controls (p < 0.001). Postural sway and 8 Hz tremor were significantly greater in the PF group compared to the control group for all eight balance tasks (p < 0.01). These results indicate that the lack of plantar fascia elasticity is probably the cause of the reduced balance and increased muscle tremor. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chronic Pain Care and Management)

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Other

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9 pages, 818 KiB

Open AccessStudy Protocol

Evaluation Instruments for Assessing Back Pain in Athletes: A Systematic Review Protocol

by Vinicius Diniz Azevedo, Regina Márcia Ferreira Silva, Silvia Cristina de Carvalho Borges, Michele da Silva Valadão Fernandes, Vicente Miñana-Signes, Manuel Monfort-Pañego, Priscilla Rayanne E Silva Noll and Matias Noll

Healthcare 2020, 8(4), 574; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/healthcare8040574 - 18 Dec 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3177

Abstract

Back pain is a public health problem that affects adolescents and adults worldwide. However, studies on back pain present inconsistent findings in part due to the use of different instruments, especially for athletes. Therefore, the objective of this systematic review protocol was to map the existing evidence on such tools. The systematic review will be conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. Five electronic databases, Embase, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, and Scopus will be searched. This review includes studies that investigated prevalence, incidence, and other variables. Titles and abstracts will be selected. Two independent reviewers will read the articles carefully and discrepancies, if any, will be dealt with by a third reviewer. All steps will be completed with Rayyan for systematic reviews and the methodological quality will be analyzed with a COSMIN checklist. Discussion: This systematic review will gather evidence on tools that assess back pain in athletes. The findings may indicate the most appropriate tools for assessing back pain. They will contribute to better reliability, safe measurements, and help to standardize a comparison tool between different studies. They will also assist in the development of specific tools for athletes. Registration: This review was submitted and registered under CRD42020201299 in PROSPERO. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chronic Pain Care and Management)

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