Disability Assessment
Introduction Physicians dealing with the evaluation and treatment of patients with chronic painful and disabling conditions can expect to be called on from time to time to formally assess the…
Pediatric Acute Pain Management
Recognition and treatment of acute pain in children have vastly improved the care of pediatric patients. Data emphasizing the efficacy of adequate pain control and decreases in adverse neurohormonal changes…
Prediction and Prevention of Persistent Post-Surgical Pain
Chronic pain as an outcome of surgery is an area of investigation that has received increased attention over the last 15 years. Twenty years ago there were a few identified…
Electromyography and Evoked Potentials
Electrodiagnosis is a broad term that includes multiple electrodiagnostic techniques, including needle electrode examination (NEE); motor and sensory nerve conduction studies (NCSs), including late responses; and evoked potentials (EPs). Electrodiagnostic…
Postoperative Pain and Other Acute Pain Syndromes
Introduction Untreated postoperative pain can result in unwanted psychological and physiologic effects that may increase morbidity and mortality, compromise quality of recovery, and increase the incidence of chronic pain. Although…
Psychological and Behavioral Assessment
Chronic pain presents two broad challenges to proper assessment: the inherently subjective nature of pain complaints and the wide-ranging influence of chronic pain on patients’ functioning. These challenges necessitate a…
Psychosocial Aspects of Chronic Pain
When a patient seeks treatment from a health care provider because of a symptom such as pain, the initial focus is on the patient’s medical history and the underlying pathology—a…
Radiologic Assessment of the Patient with Spine Pain
Imaging is a significant, but not independent, component of the multifaceted evaluation of the patient with spine or limb pain. Imaging must be interpreted in concert with the history, physical…
History and Physical Examination of the Pain Patient
Physical examination serves to further explore and confirm the findings from the clinical history. Objective data obtained from the examination are essential to accurately diagnose the etiology of the pain….
An Introduction to Pharmacogenetics in Pain Management: Knowledge of How Pharmacogenomics May Affect Clinical Care
CASE 11.1 A 58-year-old Asian male with no significant past medical history presents with acute herpes zoster in the left T4 dermatome. Presenting signs and symptoms include severe localized pain…
