Back Pain Treatment

Online and Web Project Management

2011-12-05T17:50:00.000-08:00

Providing Internet Solutions For Your Organisation

Online and Web Project Management

Neil Hill Projects. Online and Web Project management. We have 30 years experience on the world wide web and managing online and web based projects. Work closely with our clients we ensure reliability, affordability, and confidentiality, all delivered to you in an ethical, no-nonsense package that everyone can understand. We have a successful presence in New South Wales, Queensland and internationally, with a well established network of partners and resources.

Photo Processing and Film Developing. Cooroy, Sunshine Coast

2011-09-10T21:07:00.000-07:00

Photo Processing and Film Developing

The fully trained FujiFilm Accredited Staff are experts in photographic processing and developing and film including 35mm and most other C-41 type negatives. Find out more about our photo processing and film developing services at Cooroy Guardian Pharmacy, Sunshine Coast, Australia.

A Safer Morphine for Pain Treatment

2011-05-31T22:22:00.000-07:00

Making Morphine Safer and More Effective

It appears that a new, safer and more effective morphine could be possible.

Fletcher A. White, Ph.D. is the Vergil K. Stoelting Professor of Anesthesia and director of Anesthesia Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

INDIANAPOLIS – An orphan drug originally used for HIV treatment has been found to short-circuit the process that results in additional sensitivity and pain from opioid use. The study by researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine is reported in the March 25, 2011 issue of Brain, Behavior and Immunity.

The researchers say the finding in animal models may ultimately make morphine a safer and more effective drug.

Traditionally opioids were used to relieve pain following surgery, from cancer and at the end of life. Today opioids are used widely for chronically painful conditions like osteoarthritis and back pain and may need to be prescribed for decades.

Morphine, the gold standard for controlling moderate to severe pain, has debilitating side effects including reduced respiration, constipation, itching and addiction. Patients also develop a tolerance to morphine which can lead to a complicated spiral.

"In addition to the recognized side effects, morphine actually creates sensitivity and causes more pain through inducing an inflammatory response in the body," said first author Natalie Wilson, a National Science Foundation Fellow at the IU School of Medicine.

This increased sensitivity is clinically known as opioid-induced hyperalgesia (OIH). Frequently, patients receiving opioids for pain control may actually become more sensitive to certain painful stimuli necessitating an increased opioid dosage. OIH may also represent one of many reasons for declining levels of analgesia while receiving opioids or a worsening pain syndrome.

"The drug itself is producing its own new pain," said Fletcher A. White, Ph.D., Vergil K. Stoelting Professor of Anesthesia and director of Anesthesia Research at the IU School of Medicine. "I tend to view it as an injury as it appears to be creating another pain."

Dr. White explained that morphine sets into motion a cascade of events, one of which is to increase molecular communication to and from the nerves by a protein known as CXCR4. This increase in CXCR4 signaling contributes to a neuroinflammatory response causing increased sensitivity and additional pain.

Drs. Wilson and White and colleagues administered AMD3100, an orphan drug known to block the CXCR4 response, to rats. By halting the signaling process, the researchers interrupted the OIH response, Dr. White explained. "If this translates appropriately in people, this application would likely make morphine a safer, more effective drug for chronic pain control."

Study shows better waiting time for Back Pain sufferers

2011-05-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

A Hospital study in Canada shows improved waiting times for back pain sufferers

From Eureka Alert

Back Treatment comes quicker!

'Results of a Toronto Western Hospital study show that patients suffering back pain get quicker diagnosis and treatment when a Nurse Practitioner conducts the first examination. Traditionally, patients face long and anxiety-ridden wait times - up to 52 weeks – before an initial examination by a spine surgeon. Results from the year long TWH study showed wait times for patients examined by a Nurse Practitioner were significantly shorter, ranging from 10 to 21 weeks.

"Waiting times for specialty consultations in public healthcare systems worldwide are lengthy and impose undue stress on patients waiting for further information and management of their condition" says study author and Nurse Practitioner Ms. Angela Sarro. "Back pain can be very unpleasant and debilitating and 85 per cent of us will experience it at some point in our lives.

The impetus for this year long study conducted was the fact that in about 90% of cases, patients are not surgical candidates. Their treatment plan usually consists of education, and non-invasive therapies to help manage their conditions. So TWH designed the study to determine patient satisfaction when a Nurse Practitioner conducts the first examination.

Ninety-six per cent of patients said they were satisfied with the care and treatment plan given by the Nurse Practitioner. The study, entitled "Nurse practitioner-led surgical spine consultation clinic", is published in the December 2010 issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. The study was conducted in 2008.

The study also showed the Nurse Practitioner came up with the same clinical diagnosis as orthopaedic spine surgeons Dr Yoga Raja Rampersaud and Dr Stephen Lewis in 100 per cent of the 177 patients assessed. Dr.'s Rampersaud and Lewis are co-authors of the study.

The 96 male and 81 female patients ranged from 23 to 85 years of age, with an average age of 52. All had been referred by their family doctor with suspected disc-herniation, spinal stenosis or degenerative disc disease.

Key findings included:

• Patients waited ten to 21 weeks to see the nurse practitioner, with an average wait of 12 weeks. This compared with ten to 52 weeks to be seen by the surgeons in a conventional clinic, with average waiting times ranging from three to four months for disc herniations to eight to twelve months for spinal stenosis.

• Just under ten per cent (18 patients) were correctly identified as surgical candidates by the nurse practitioner. In addition, 66 were referred for specific nerve root block, 14 for facet block and 26 for further radiological imaging.

"Nurse practitioners have received additional specialist training" explains Ms. Sarro. "They typically work in healthcare centres and primary care practices in the community, but their role is advancing into areas such as emergency departments and long-term care settings.

"At the moment there are clinical, legal and funding barriers in the Canadian health system that prevent nurse practitioners from being fully independent when it comes to assessing and managing patients who require specialist care. However, we feel that there may be scope for government-funded triage clinics led by nurse practitioners to reduce waiting times for spine consultations.", says Ms. Sarro.

Co-author Dr Yoga Raja Rampersaud adds, "We believe that our study demonstrates that nurse practitioners can play an effective and efficient role in delivering timely health care to patients requiring specific disease management in a specialty setting.

Toronto Western Hospital is now assessing the potential to expand the practice of Nurse Practitioners being the point of contact for ongoing care of patients with a variety of conditions.'

Brain Scans Show How Meditation May Ease Your Back Pain

2011-04-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

Ease your back pain with meditation.

Taken from Article byAmanda Chan from My Health News Daily Staff Writer

05 April 2011

Zen meditation discourages mental withdrawal from the world and dreaminess, and instead asks one to keep fully aware with a vigilant attitude. Typically one focuses on breathing and posture and aims to dismiss thoughts as they arise. Brain scans now show that Zen training leads to different activity in a set of brain regions known as the "default network," which is linked with spontaneous bursts of thought and wandering minds.

New Jersey resident Frank Nafey wakes up every day with discomfort in his back and right leg. On good days, all he has to deal with is stiffness. But on bad days, it feels as if a knife were lodged in his back.

Nafey, a 56-year-old retired teacher in Bedminster, was diagnosed 15 years ago with multiple sclerosis. The autoimmune disease attacked the neurons in his brain, limiting his ability to move and causing pain in his limbs.

But he practices yoga and meditation to soothe his pain, with breathing exercises to focus his mind on things other than his body. These practices alone don't take away the pain, but at least they help his mind "become distanced" from his body, he said.

"When you have a chronic disease, it oftentimes feels like you're trapped within the body," Nafey told MyHealthNewsDaily.

In a new study by researchers from Wake Forest University, brain scans illustrate the mechanisms behind Nafey's experiences. The brains of people who underwent meditation training and were subjected to five minutes of pain showed a decrease in activation in regions associated with pain.

And the participants reported lower levels of pain than before they learned how to meditate, the study said.

The study appears tomorrow (April 6) in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Looking at the brain scans

Back Pain and Neck Pain

2011-04-11T01:41:00.000-07:00

Nationwide survey on Neck and Back Pain

A national survey revealed that for 8 out of 10 Australians, back pain and neck pain is affecting them in every area of their life.

A report from a big drug company, back pain and neck pain is a way of life for many people. From the moment when they wake from a pain interrupted sleep, to working with their pain at their desk. The pain is said to be preventing them from enjoying their time away from work and they are missing out on their hobbies and sports.

Forty three percent of those suffering from neck and back pain, say they get significant pain more that once a week. With forty one percent the pain is so bad they cannot live a normal life.

The pain is affecting sufferers mentally also. It is said that it makes them irritable, frustrated and distracted. Over 1/3 of Australians fifty and older with back pain and neck pain report being depressed as a result of their pain.

Back Pain and Neck Pain Specialist.

Duy Long Nguyen has used his unique skills for over 40 years. He was trained in many alternative therapies. He has been taught by masters from Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan, He has had exceptional results treating neck and back pain and many common sporting injuries

His treatments are a combination of eastern therapies and conventional western clinical treatments which gives you best opportunity for your back pain and neck pain to heal. Visit the Back Pain Clinic for more information or to make an appointment for a back treatment.