Recent scientific studies have added more and more consistent evidence that the newborn, even if preterm, is very sensitive to the nociceptive stimulus. The baby responds with a well known physiological, metabolic and hormonal reaction, that, if repeated, may lead to short and medium term negative effects on the newborn. This vulnerability to painful stimulus, especially in preterm infants, can...

Dr McCarberg is Assistant Clinical Professor (voluntary), University of California School of Medicine, Boarded in Family Medicine, Geriatrics, and Pain Medicine, Family Medicine Kaiser Permanente, San Diego, California. Conflict of Interest: The author reports serving on the speaker’s bureau for Eli Lilly, Endo, Forest, Janssen, Ligand, Organon, Ortho-McNeil, Pfizer Inc, PriCara, and Purdue. Of...

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is an interventional nonpharmacologic treatment used for chronic pain and other indications. Methods evaluating the safety efficacy of SCS have evolved from uncontrolled retrospective studies to prospective randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Although randomization overcomes certain types bias, additional challenges validity RCTs include blinding, choice control g...

The management of neuropathic pain remains very challenging and very much an art. Despite the publication of multiple consensus guidelines on the management of neuropathic pain, a significant subpopulation of patients with neuropathic pain are not afforded adequate relief, employing various treatment algorithms with conventional pharmacologic therapeutic strategies. First-line agents for the tr...

There is increasing concern regarding the number of painful medical procedures that infants must undergo and the potential risks of alleviating infant pain with conventional pharmacologic agents. This article is Part I of a two-part series that aims to provide an overview of the literature on complementary and alternative (CAM) approaches for pain and distress related to medical procedures amon...

Painful diabetic neuropathy is characterized by intense pain. The objective was to conduct a literature review regarding the pharmacologic therapies used to relieve that pain. A literature search was conducted of six (6) data sources, in the last 12 years (1998 to 2010) using the keywords: diabetes, diabetes, painful neuropathy, neuropathic pain, treatment, and other similar terms. Thirteen art...

The sensation of pain is associated with increased mortality, but it is unknown whether pain perception can directly affect aging. We find that mice lacking TRPV1 pain receptors are long-lived, displaying a youthful metabolic profile at old age. Loss of TRPV1 inactivates a calcium-signaling cascade that ends in the nuclear exclusion of the CREB-regulated transcriptional coactivator CRTC1 within...

Low back pain is the most common musculoskeletal complaint that results in a visit to the emergency department, and it is 1 of the top 5 most common complaints in emergency medicine. Estimates of annual healthcare expenditures for low back pain in the United States exceed $90 billion annually, not even taking lost productivity and business costs into account. This review explores an evidence-ba...