New guidelines for aches, pains, and strains
We’ve all been there before. A minor injury leads to a sore ankle, achy shoulder, or sore neck. You could do nothing, try to ignore it, and see if it gets better. Or you may be tempted to take something, especially if significant discomfort prevents you from doing your usual activities or keeps you up at night.
So, what’s the best initial treatment? For minor injuries, your options are many, including:
Home remedies. Common approaches are the “RICE” treatments — Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation: applying cold to the sore area, wearing an elastic wrap to compress the sore area, rest, and elevation (such as p...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 2, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Bones and joints Exercise and Fitness Health Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Curcumin for arthritis: Does it really work?
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that is the most common type of arthritis. Usually, it occurs among people of advanced age. But it can begin in middle age or even sooner, especially if there’s been an injury to the joint.
While there are treatments available — exercise, braces or canes, loss of excess weight, various pain relievers and anti-inflammatory medicines — these are no cures, and none of the treatments are predictably effective. In fact, often they don’t work at all, or help only a little. Injected steroids or synthetic lubricants can be tried as well. When all else fails, joint replacement ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 12, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Arthritis Bones and joints Complementary and alternative medicine Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Multi-Organ Lab-on-a-Chip for Cancer Drug Testing
Researchers at Hesperos, Inc., a biotech firm based in Florida, have collaborated with Roche and the University of Central Florida to develop a multi-organ lab-on-a-chip system for drug testing. The device includes human organ-derived tissue constructs that allow for the efficacy and side-effects of anti-cancer drugs in various organs to be tested in a way that does not involve laboratory animals. The technique is another step for lab-on-a-chip devices in making preclinical testing easier, less expensive, and more humane.
Lab-on-a-chip devices for drug testing are an active area of research, with numerous devices being ...
Source: Medgadget - June 20, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Materials Medicine Source Type: blogs
Is tramadol a risky pain medication?
All medications come with a dose of risk. From minor side effects to life-threatening allergic reactions, every decision to take a medication should be made only after the expected benefits are weighed against the known risks. You aren’t on your own in this: your doctor, your pharmacist, and a trove of information are available for your review. Recently, I wrote about how newly approved drugs often accumulate new warnings about their safety, including a gout medication that garnered a new warning due to an increased risk of death. Now, according to a new study, the common prescription pain medication tramadol may earn a...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - June 14, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Addiction Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Goodbye to Compounded Analgesic Creams
This study is one of the largest and best-designed study I ' m aware of of these creams, and the findings are pretty clear: such creams benefit patients via placebo mechanisms, aka they don ' t work.Note that there is a separate body of research on some other topicals which should not be confused with this study. Eg, the 5% lidocaine patch for post-herpetic neuralgia, topical capsaicin for a variety of neuropathies, and at least some topical NSAIDs for osteoarthritis, and topical opioids. I ' m not broadly endorsing those either - it ' s complicated - however they weren ' t tested here and the take home point is we should ...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - February 11, 2019 Category: Palliative Care Source Type: blogs
Are you taking too much anti-inflammatory medication?
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You might call them pain relievers. You might take them for back pain, headache, or arthritis. Your doctor calls them “NSAIDs,” which stands for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Whatever you call them and for whatever reason you take them, NSAIDs are among the most popular medications worldwide. In fact, estimates suggest that about 15% of the US population takes an NSAID regularly (including those that are over the counter and prescription strength). Along with sporadic users, more than 30 billion doses are taken each year.
Some of the most common NSAIDs include ibuprofen (as in...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 2, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Arthritis Back Pain Drugs and Supplements Headache Health Injuries Pain Management Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 67-year-old woman with degenerative joint disease
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 67-year-old woman is evaluated during a routine examination. She has a history of hip and knee pain related to degenerative joint disease. The joint pain is now well controlled with diclofenac, which was started 3 months ago. A previous trial of high-dose acetaminophen was not effective. She does not have any gastrointestinal symptoms, and she takes the diclofenac with food most of the time. Her medical history is otherwise notable for type 2 diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension. Her parents bot...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 3, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Gastroenterology Source Type: blogs
Is it safe to take ibuprofen for the aches and pains of exercise?
Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling
Not long ago, I took ibuprofen after a dental procedure and was amazed at how well it worked. Millions of people have had similar experiences with ibuprofen and related medications (called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs) when used for a number of conditions, including arthritis, back pain, and headache. That’s why NSAIDs are among the most commonly prescribed drugs worldwide.
More than a dozen different NSAIDs are available, including naproxen (as in Naprosyn or Aleve), celecoxib (Celebrex), diclofenac (Voltaren) and indomethacin (Indocin). Aspirin is also an NSAID, th...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - August 9, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Drugs and Supplements Exercise and Fitness Health Kidney and urinary tract Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 67-year-old woman who takes diclofenac
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 67-year-old woman is evaluated during a routine examination. She has a history of hip and knee pain related to degenerative joint disease. The joint pain is now well controlled with diclofenac, which was started 3 months ago. A previous trial of high-dose acetaminophen was not effective. She does not have any gastrointestinal symptoms, and she takes the diclofenac with food most of the time. Her medical history is otherwise notable for type 2 diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension. Her parents bot...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 5, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions GI Medications Orthopedics Source Type: blogs
Over-the-counter pain relievers and your heart
Ibuprofen and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like naproxen are and have been the go-to “benign” pain medication for doctors and patients alike. Why? They aren’t addictive, and it’s not easy to overdose. Serious side effects like gastrointestinal ulcers and bleeding seemed to be limited to high doses taken for longer periods or time, or to people with significant medical problems.
Even before the era of the opioid epidemic, it was raining NSAIDs, across the country.
In 2004, the manufacturer of the NSAID Vioxx pulled it from the market because the drug was associated with serious cardiovascular ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - May 15, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Back Pain Drugs and Supplements Headache Health Heart Health Injuries Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Staying active at “that time of the month”
Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling
This past August, her exuberance, emotion and enthusiasm had already made Fu Yuanhui the most famous Chinese athlete at the Olympics. After winning a bronze medal in the women’s 100-meter backstroke with a personal best, she nearly exploded with excitement: “I was so fast! I’m really pleased! I’ve already… expended my primordial powers!” Her interview went viral with millions of hits worldwide.
Then she said something truly shocking: she was having her period. Noticing that the swimmer was grimacing after her relay team narrowly missed medaling, an interviewer asked if she had...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 5, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Exercise and Fitness Women's Health Source Type: blogs
The Future of Work Part I
Have you ever taken some time to think about what work will look like 5, 10 or even 20 years from now? If you haven’t, it is probably worth the effort because a changing work environment may have dramatic implications for how you are employed in the future. In these two posts, I want to talk about some of the trends I’m seeing and how they may play out in the coming years.
Outsourcing
Companies are getting better and better at spinning off specific business functions and letting them be handled by others. For example, many businesses can’t justify running payroll in-house. It is cheaper to hire a company...
Source: Productivity501 - September 20, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Mark Shead Tags: Misc Source Type: blogs
A 37 year old woman with Chest Pain
I was sent this ECG with the following information:A 37 year old female with no comorbidities, a non-smoker, with no known hyperlipidemia and no family h/o of CAD presented to ED with central chest pain since 5 hours with no radiation, increased by moving her arms and associated with SOB. This occurred after a stressful interpersonal conflict. She had had similar episodes before when angry or stressed.Her vital signs are BP 110/70, P 70/m, RR 18/m, O2 sat 98% RA. Physical exam was normal. Here is the ECG:What do you think?Here was my response:"I looked at the ECG and immediately thought "This is an ac...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - April 19, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
The High Costs Of Nepal’s Fee-For-Service Approach To Health Care
Go to just about any clinic, pharmacy, or hospital in Nepal with a head cold. Your symptoms are invariably caused by a virus, for which time is the only remedy, rather than antibiotics, steroids, or vitamins. Despite the substantial harms and lack of benefit of such medications, you will most likely receive them all.
If you are feeling particularly unwell, you might also get intravenous fluids, perhaps some antacid medications, and certainly some amount of analgesics like paracetamol or diclofenac. You will emerge from your consultation 1,500 Nepalese rupees poorer, despite not having received anything of particular benefi...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 20, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Duncan Maru and Senendra Uprety Tags: Costs and Spending Equity and Disparities Featured Global Health Health Professionals Hospitals Organization and Delivery Payment Policy Population Health Public Health Quality Duncan Maru fee-for-service globalization Kathmand Source Type: blogs
