BACKGROUND Despite substantial increases in its popularity and use, the efficacy of acupuncture for chronic mechanical neck pain remains unproved. OBJECTIVE To compare acupuncture and placebo for neck pain. DESIGN A randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-arm trial with 1-year follow-up. SETTING The outpatient departments of 2 major hospitals in the United Kingdom, 1999 to ...

BACKGROUND Few community-based epidemiological investigations of upper limb disorders (ULDs) have classified cases by validated procedures involving a structured clinical examination. AIM To compare risk factor profiles for different diagnostic categories of ULD using one such examination scheme. METHODS A questionnaire about upper limb pain and demographic, occupational and psychosocial ri...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Shoulder pain is a prevalent condition in older adults. Some authors associate nonspecific shoulder pain with myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) in the infraspinatus muscle. Dry needling is recommended to relieve the MTrP pain of shoulders in the short term (<9 days). Active MTrPs dry needling improves shoulder pain and the irritability of the satellite MTrPs in the referr...

STUDY DESIGN A prospective single blinded placebo controlled study was conducted. OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of spinal manipulation therapy (SMT) for the management of chronic nonspecific low back pain (LBP) and to determine the effectiveness of maintenance SMT in long-term reduction of pain and disability levels associated with chronic low back conditions after an initial phase of...

BACKGROUND Approximately 20% of patients report persistent and disabling pain following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) despite an apparently normally functioning prosthesis. One potential risk factor for unexplained persistent pain is high levels of pain catastrophizing. We designed a three-arm trial to determine if a pain coping skills training program, delivered prior to TKA, effectively reduc...

Chronic pain syndrome is a major health and socioeconomic problem that is manifested by frequent asking of medical assistance, high price of health care, sick leave, work inability and disability as well as frequent compensation requests. Generally speaking, pain, especially chronic pain, significantly diminishes the patient and their family’s quality of life. Most people experience one or more...