Chronic pain should be considered a disease
February 15, 2008The concept that chronic pain is a disease in its own right is leading to new specific treatments aimed at physical, psychological, and environmental components of this major disease, including genetic predisposition, according to a world renowned pain medicine expert.
Michael J Cousins AM, MD, DSc, professor and director of the Pain Management Research Institute at the University of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital, in Australia, presented the Decade of Pain plenary session on February 14, 2008, at the 24th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, Florida.
“Chronic pain is different from acute pain,” explained Dr. Cousins. “If pain persists despite reasonable treatment from a primary care physician and other specialists, the advice of a pain medicine specialist should be sought. The earlier such help is obtained the greater the chance of returning to a reasonable range of life activities.”
According to the National Center for Health Statistics more than one-quarter of Americans (26%) age 20 years and over - or, an estimated 76.5 million Americans - report that they have had a problem with pain. Studies from the Pain Management Research Institute reveal an annual cost of $1.85 billion per 1 million people.
“In the near future, diagnosis and treatment of persistent pain will be markedly different,” Dr. Cousins stated. “Drugs such as morphine that provide only symptomatic relief will be replaced by or supplemented with a new generation of therapies targeted at the disease process.”
The availability of new treatments may challenge the medical system. Dr. Cousins noted that too few pain medicine specialists are being trained and not enough pain patients have access to effective treatments.
“Pain management needs to become a fundamental human right: a bundle of initiatives will be needed in Medicine, Law, Ethics, Politics,” concluded Dr. Cousins.
Dr. Cousins also addressed the genetics of pain and brain imaging research.
Dr. Cousins has been the driving force in Australia, as well as internationally, in drawing attention to evidence that shows that severe persistent pain becomes a “disease entity” and has also championed the concept of pain relief as a basic human right.
Source: American Academy of Pain Medicine
-
Naked mole genome sequenced
Oct 12, 2011 |
5 / 5 (2) |
1
-
All in the family: Lower back disease may be in your genes
Feb 02, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Study finds body's response to repetitive laughter is similar to the effect of repetitive exercise
Apr 26, 2010 |
not rated yet |
0
-
It really may be the best medicine
May 15, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Putting feelings into words produces therapeutic effects in the brain
Jun 22, 2007 |
4.7 / 5 (44) |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (30) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Team isolates nerve cells involved in storing long term memory and gene proteins associated with them
(Medical Xpress) -- A research team in Taiwan has succeeded in isolating two nerve cells in fruit fly brains that are believed to be the major players in allowing for the formation of long term memories. Furthermore, ...
News of plaque-clearing drug tops week of major advances against Alzheimer's disease
In the last eight days, scientists have delivered a powerful one-two punch in the fight to defeat Alzheimer's disease. At the same time, the White House and members of Congress are proposing increases in Alzheimer's research ...
51 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
1
To avoid early labor and delivery, weight and diet changes not the answer
One of the strongest known risk factors for spontaneous or unexpected preterm birth any birth that occurs before the 37th week of pregnancy, most often without a known cause is already having had one. For women ...
4 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
Joint patent for using the BRCA1 gene as a therapy for cardiovascular disease
St. Michael's Hospital and King Saud University have received their first joint U.S. patent to use the BRCA1 gene as a therapy for cardiovascular disease.
20 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
S.Africa in $208 mln AIDS drug venture with Swiss Lonza
South Africa on Friday unveiled plans for a 1.6 billion rand ($208 million, 157 million euro) pharmaceutical plant, in a joint venture with Swiss biochemicals group Lonza to produce anti-AIDS drugs.
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
1 hour ago |
not rated yet |
0
The power of estrogen -- male snakes attract other males
A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the sexiest ...
Could Venus be shifting gear?
(PhysOrg.com) -- ESAs Venus Express spacecraft has discovered that our cloud-covered neighbour spins a little slower than previously measured. Peering through the dense atmosphere in the infrared, the ...
Experts reveal how plants don't get sunburn
(PhysOrg.com) -- Experts at the University of Glasgow have discovered how plants survive the harmful rays of the sun.
Fool's gold may prove an unlikely alternative to overexploited catalytic materials
Catalytic materials, which lower the energy barriers for chemical reactions, are used in everything from the commercial production of chemicals to catalytic converters in car engines. However, with current catalytic materials ...
SLAC, Stanford team focuses on high-energy electrons to treat cancer
Accelerator physicists at SLAC and cancer specialists from Stanford are working on a new technology that could dramatically reduce the time needed for cancer radiation treatments. The team ran an initial experiment ...
Unpicking HIV’s invisibility cloak
Drug researchers hunting for alternative ways to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections may soon have a novel targetits camouflage coat. HIV hides inside a cloak unusually rich in a sugar ...