More than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. But treating and studying chronic pain is complex and presents many challenges. Scientists have long searched for a method to objectively measure pain and a new…
Chronic illness
Understand chronic illness, its symptoms, common causes, and effective management strategies to improve health and quality of life.
Immediate treatment can alleviate future back problems, research suggests
Immediate treatment by a physiotherapist, bypassing a waiting list, can reduce problems with recurring low back pain, reveals a thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Many people suffer with low back pain, and most…
How badly does it hurt? Research examines the biomedical diagnosis of pain
Is the science of diagnosing pain causing a number of pain sufferers to defend their honor? Research out of the University of Cincinnati is examining the diagnosis of pain that evades scientific testing, and the…
New principle discovered for how muscle pain is signaled
Chronic muscular pain may be linked to a previously unknown principle for how pain signals are transmitted in the human body. This is shown by Umeå University researchers Tuija Athanassiadis and Karl-Gunnar Westberg, in collaboration…
Biological Link Between Pain And Fatigue Discovered
A recent University of Iowa study reveals a biological link between pain and fatigue and may help explain why more women than men are diagnosed with chronic pain and fatigue conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic…
MRE Could Provide A Definitive Diagnosis For People With Muscle Pain, Study Shows
An estimated nine million men and women in the United States live with myofascial pain syndrome, a condition marked by pain that permeates muscles in the neck, back and shoulders. The condition is difficult to…
Nearly Half of Giant Cell Arteritis Patients on Actemra for a Year Stay in Remission After Stopping It
“Giant cell arteritis requires ongoing management, but it does not necessarily require continuous treatment.” In 2017, tocilizumab (Actemra), a biologic drug that inhibits interleukin-6 (IL-6), was FDA-approved for giant cell arteritis — an inflammation of…
Vagus Nerve Stimulation: A New Way to Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis
Some people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) take a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) and/or a biologic and reach remission. Others try drug after drug after drug and never find one that’s effective — or that treats…
If You’re in Remission on a DMARD for Rheumatoid Arthritis, Should You Taper? Here’s What New Research Says
New data compares what happens when the dosage of DMARDs such as methotrexate is tapered or kept steady. For most rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, sustained remission (inactive disease) is the goal of taking methotrexate or…
If Rheumatoid Arthritis Inflammation Is Improving, Be Patient: Less Pain and Fatigue May Be Coming
Knowing there could be a lag between objective measures of improvement and patient–reported outcomes could help prevent over-treatment. When a rheumatologist measures disease activity in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), objective clinical measures like…