Randomized controlled pilot study: Quantitative sensory testing in patients with back pain before and after Gua Sha massage

Randomized controlled pilot study: Quantitative sensory testing in patients with back pain before and after Gua Sha massage
Question: Permanent nociceptive influx may lead to functional changes in the nervous system, i.e. hyperalgesia and allodynia occur. These processes are suspected to contribute substantially to the ongoing pain process. Reflex therapies, like the Gua Sha, a traditional Chinese massage technique preferentially used in the treatment of back pain, are supposed to affect the transmission and processing of sensory information on receptor and spinal level . If so one could assume that the Gua Sha massage should not only decrease the pain level itself, but also change sensory thresholds in the affected areas. In order to test this, we applied the Gua Sha massage in patients with chronic back pain and evaluated sensory threshold changes.Methods: Thirty patients with chronic back pain (mean age 50.3…

Cauda Equina Syndrome and Decreasing Opioid Requirements

Cauda Equina Syndrome and Decreasing Opioid Requirements
In response to the letter by Ostgathe and coworkers, I would like to comment on the decreased opioid requirements observed in this patient who had cauda equina syndrome. The term cauda equina syndrome refers to a constellation of symptoms owing to damage of the cauda equina, the portion of the nervous system below the conus medullaris and consisting of peripheral nerves, both motor and sensory, within the spinal canal and thecal sac. Damage in this region causes various symptoms, including sciatica, low back pain, saddle and perianal hypoesthesia or analgesia, decreased rectal tone, absent patellar and Achilles tendon reflexes, bowel and bladder dysfunction, and lower-extremity weakness. Cauda equina syndrome may be due to primary spinal tumors or metastatic tumors. (Source: Journal of Pai…

The combination topotecan, temozolomide and dexamethasone associated with radiotherapy as treatment of central nervous system myeloma relapse.

The combination topotecan, temozolomide and dexamethasone associated with radiotherapy as treatment of central nervous system myeloma relapse.
Authors: Annibali O, Nobile C, Greco R, Cellini F, Quattrocchi CC, Tirindelli MC, Petrucci MT, Avvisati G A 46-year-old woman with IgA-lambda myeloma in partial remission, after a tandem autologous hematopoietic stem cells transplantation, complained of progressive lower back pain associated with paraplegia and neurological bladder 6 months after the second transplant. A lumbar puncture revealed atypical malignant plasma cells in the cerebral spinal fluid associated with multiple foci of altered signal intensity of brain and spinal cord demonstrated by magnetic resonance. Considering the lack of efficacious chemotherapies for neurological myeloma, an experimental systemic treatment with topotecan, temozolamide, and dexamethasone associated with concurrent radiotherapy of brain and spin…

Back Pain Troubles - What You Need to Know

Back Pain Troubles - What You Need to Know
Back troubles can be induced by an inordinately extensive array of problems - a few of them starting elsewhere in the body, but with painfulness being transferred to regions of the back by the nervous system. Back pain is among the most usual causes individuals attempt medical attending. It’s the symptom that actuates most patients who acquire chiropractic aid.