Free-Weight Lifting helps a LOT for Low Back Pain

The effects of a free-weight-based resistance training intervention on pain, squat biomechanics and MRI-defined lumbar fat infiltration and functional cross-sectional area in those with chronic low back. Welch N, Moran K, Antony J, Richter C, Marshall B, Coyle J, Falvey E, Franklyn-Miller A. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2015 Nov 9;1(1) [FREE FULL TEXT] QUOTES: … Read more

Electric Stimulation for RSD / CRPS (Chad’s Review)

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) also known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy  (RSD), causalgia, and a host of other names is kind of like headaches and neuropathy were for me. In that I didn’t initially have any particular interest in the condition but I have a tremendous interests in electric stimulation, particularly electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) … Read more

Placebo Effect: You Probably Shouldn’t Know This, But…

This is one of those papers where the abstract doesn’t quite cut it, and the whole paper was a fascinating read. I got thinking about it after reading my favorite paper on acupuncture, “Acupuncture is Theatrical Placebo” and I have since caught myself using the term “theatrical placebo” on the reg. That got me wondering and … Read more

TENS, More Electric Stimulation is Better than Less

Adjusting pulse amplitude during transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) application produces greater hypoalgesia.Pantaleão MA, Laurino MF, Gallego NL, Cabral CM, Rakel B, Vance C, Sluka KA, Walsh DM, Liebano RE. J Pain. 2011 May;12(5):581-90. AbstractTranscutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a noninvasive technique used for pain modulation. During application of TENS there is a fading … Read more

Central Sensitization and Chronic Pain

Central sensitization: implications for the diagnosis and treatment of pain. Pain. 2011 Mar;152(3 Suppl):S2-15. Woolf CJ. [FREE FULL TEXT] AbstractNociceptor inputs can trigger a prolonged but reversible increase in the excitability and synaptic efficacy of neurons in central nociceptive pathways, the phenomenon of central sensitization. Central sensitization manifests as pain hypersensitivity, particularly dynamic tactile allodynia, secondary … Read more