Painkiller Dependence Before Knee Surgery May Slow Recovery

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 Recovery after knee replacement surgery can be much more difficult if patients are dependent on powerful opioid painkillers before the procedure, a new study shows.
Opioids are narcotics such as morphine, codeine and oxycodone.

U.S. researchers compared results of 49 knee replacements in opioid-dependent patients with recovery rates for a group of patients not dependent on narcotics. They found that patients who were opioid-dependent before surgery tended to have longer hospital stays, more unexplained pain or stiffness, a higher rate of complications and were more likely to require additional surgery, compared to patients who were not opioid-dependent.
The study was published Nov. 2 in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

"We expected to find that the opioid-dependent patients have worse outcomes. But the differences between the two groups of patients were even greater than we thought they would be. The chronic narcotics users did significantly worse in every category," principal investigator Dr. Michael A. Mont, director of the Center for Joint Preservation and Reconstruction at the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, said in a journal news release.

"This doesn't mean that opioid users shouldn't have the surgery," he added. "But those patients and their physicians should know that their results may not be as optimal. It might be possible that we can work with these patients to improve their surgical outcomes."
Mont and his colleagues suggested several ways to improve recovery for opioid-dependent knee surgery patients. These include: weaning them off strong opioid medications before surgery; prescribing alternate, non-opioid pain medications; and using drug-free pain management methods.

"Previous studies have found that patients who use opioids are more dissatisfied after surgery," Mont said. "But these are more powerful findings since patients require additional surgeries. This is a topic our orthopedic community and other care providers need to address together."
-- Robert Preidt

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7 Simple Suggestions For Dealing With Chronic Pain

Chronic pain affect most of the people some way or another. It cost a lot to cure it as well. Most common chronic pain is headaches and lower back pain. Chronic pain can be defined as persisting for more than six months. It can be caused by a specific injury or medical problem. The pain could occur with no apparent reason which puzzled prescribers and patients. It is important to bear in mind that chronic pain cannot be treated in one quick solution but needed an extensive personalized plan to manage.

It is important to be able to accept pain as part of your life that need to be addressed before combating it. These are what you can do to deal with chronic pain:

1. Keep yourself hydrated as dehydration can aggravate the symptoms of chronic conditions such as headaches and back pain.

2. Load your body with nutritious foods that can help combat pain and reduce fatigue. Examples are leafy greens, foods rich with omega3, asparagus, low sugar fruits and soy products.

3. Keep a positive outlook. Thinking positively will help to overcome blocks and lessen the pain you are feeling.

4. Distract yourself with activities that are not stressful such as yoga, listening to music, watching movies. It is good to engage in activities that make you feel good.

5. Maintain proper posture. Being in C-slump which is a bend back with head in front of spine can impair nerve and blood flow. Try to keep head in a parallel line with a straight spine. This can help prevent strain on back and neck muscles.

6. Discuss your pain. You may be able to find solutions to problems that cause you stress and any helpful coping skills.

7. Keep a diary that can help you keep track of your pain and record down medications that are able to help you and any adverse effects you experience while taking them. This can help you to be in more control of your pain.

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What To Expect From Pain Management Clinic

The condition of chronic pain means that a certain part of your body is not functioning right. If the pain is restricting movements and activities, if it is affecting moods and disposition, if it gets in the way of living life then it is time to see a doctor. It's time that you find out what's causing the pain so it can be treated accordingly by your physician. It only means that you have to set an appointment at a pain management clinic.

Don't allow the pain to linger, if you feel the pain happen too often make sure you have it checked at a pain management clinic as soon as possible. Experts and state-of-the-art methods and equipment are available to render professional care that intends to put the sufferer back on track again. As soon as the pain condition is addressed accordingly, a patient can expect to live an improved quality of life.

Choosing the right pain management clinic is necessary for the patient's sake. Knowing as much about the pain, asking the doctor for referral, and gathering information about nearby pain management clinics i.e. specializations, facilities, amenities particularly if confinement is needed, costs, would be the most important factors to consider. Each clinic has a different set of pain management schemes. It is best to choose the one that will help best in the kind of pain that is being managed. If things are done right, it will not be startling to find out that pain management is successful and achieving what it is supposed to do and that is the restoration of the kind of life that the patient so desires or at the very least, a life where pain becomes more bearable.

Pain management has improved drastically over the past few years, patients are now more conscious and well informed about this type of disorder. Due to the advancement of technology, many alternative methods for treating, diagnosing and managing pain became available. Pain management clinic increased in number to cater to the growing number of people suffering from this condition; giving patients a whole lot more options. Nowadays, people who suffer from pain always have a place to turn to so they can be treated accordingly. It is time to live a full life again.

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The Advantages Of Having A Pain Management Specialist

Those who are in pain are in dire need of a pain management specialist to aid them relieve their daily aches and give them hope for a better quality of lifestyle ahead. It is not easy coping with chronic pain everyday. Those in pain would be able to relate to the following
metaphor. How could someone suffering from pain disregard the fact that pain specialists are trying to help them address the symptoms of their disease and help them attain a pain-free future.


Depending on the type of pain, there are various types of pain management specialists that diagnose, manage, and treat people suffering from pain. Palliative care doctors are those who specialize in pain management. There are two basic type of pain management specialists, those who try to manage pain through changes in lifestyle such as diet and exercise, on the other hand, there are specialists who would rather seize the pain right away through the use of maintenance medicine. Anestheseologists specialize on managing more complicated pain cases regardless if they are chronic or acute types of pain. Other members with varying roles in the teams could be a neurologist, orthopedist, surgeons, physiatrist, therapists, nurses and even a psychologist or psychiatrist. The teams focus is to immediately address the pain issue of a patient and to manage it properly that the patient enjoys a decent quality of life.


A pain management specialist looks and tries to understand the pain history of the patient using every diagnostic tool and method available at hand such as X-ray, MRI, discography, CT Scan, PET Scan, Neurological and physical examinations and others. These tools provide information as to the sources and nature of pain that form the basis for the pain treatment and management. These cases can not be treated by a single specialization, because of the complexities these cases usually have. A multi-disciplinary approach is still the best way to diagnose, manage and treat a patient in order to bring back the quality of life the patient once had. Giving the patient a complete pain-free life is the main goal, but in most cases this is impossible, so the specialist's job is to make sure that the pain experienced by the patient is kept at a minimum.

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