Physiotherapy jobs holders to dispense prescriptions?
Those with podiatry or physiotherapy jobs could soon be allowed to prescribe drugs if a new scheme gets the go ahead. According to the Health Service Journal, the Department of Health has asked industry professionals, such as those currently in pharmacy jobs, to list the conditions which they feel podiatry or physiotherapy practitioners could write [...]
Injection of Botulinum Toxin for Treatment of Chronic Lateral Epicondylitis: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Lateral epicondylitis can be chronic and difficult to manage with conservative measures such as physical therapy and corticosteroid injection. We attempted to determine the efficacy of botulinum toxin for the treatment of chronic lateral epicondylitis. We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Google Scholar, EMBASE, PEDro, and ISI web of Science databases from inception until November 2009. [...]
Efficacy of Intra-Articular Botulinum Toxin Type A in Painful Knee Osteoarthritis: A Pilot Study.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) injected intra-articularly in 60 subjects with moderate pain and functional impairment secondary to knee osteoarthritis. The study investigators hypothesized that intra-articular BoNT-A would result in statistically significant improvements in pain and function at 8 weeks. Sixty patients [...]
Pharmacology of Pain
A heavyweight editorial team, a long list of influential contributing authors and the first such IASP book on this subject for over ten years was always going to make for a strong publication and this does not disappoint. There have been huge advances in the understanding of pharmacology and physiology of pain since the last [...]
Osteoporosis Drug Improves Healing After Rotator Cuff Surgery
New research shows an approved therapy for osteoporosis, Forteo, may speed healing and improve patient outcomes for rotator cuff tears. The preliminary study from Hospital for Special Surgery in New York is being presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) meeting this week in New Orleans . Forteo is a synthetic version of [...]
There is inadequate evidence to determine the effectiveness of nonpharmacological and nonsurgical interventions for hand osteoarthritis: an overview of high-quality systematic reviews
The purpose of this overview is to summarize the evidence from systematic reviews of the effectiveness of nonpharmacological and nonsurgical interventions for patients with hand osteoarthritis. Four systematic reviews were included. Based on single randomized controlled trials, there is some evidence of the effect of pain relief from topical capsaicin compared with placebo and for [...]
Self-reported outcomes during treatment with tumour necrosis factor [agr] inhibitors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
The objective of this study was to study how patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) self-report their experience of disease-related symptoms (fatigue, morning stiffness, pain) and their ability to cope with everyday life (capacity) using a nurse-led structured follow-up during the first year after starting treatment with tumour necrosis factor [agr] (TNF-[agr]) inhibitors. Thirty-nine patients, who [...]
Pharmacology of Pain
IASP has published a new book called Pharmacology of Pain. Edited by Pierre Beaulieu, David Lussier, Frank Porreca, and Anthony Dickenson it provides a complete review of the pharmacology of pain, including mechanisms of drug actions, clinical aspects of drug usage, and new developments. This authoritative book describes the different systems involved in the perception, [...]
Effects of Darbepoetin Alfa with exercise in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy: an explorative study
Fatigue is frequent in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Erythropoietins (EPO) have shown well-documented effects on these patients, and administered in pharmacological doses, may reduce the need for transfusion of blood cells and improve quality of life (QoL). An explorative, descriptive, non-randomised intervention study using semi-structured interviews was conducted with the aim to gain an insight [...]
Duloxetine, a centrally acting analgesic, in the treatment of patients with osteoarthritis knee pain: A 13-week, randomized, placebo-controlled trial
Pain is a common cause of disability in osteoarthritis. Duloxetine, a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), has demonstrated analgesic effects in diabetic peripheral neuropathy and fibromyalgia. Considering its central mechanism of action, duloxetine may be effective in other pain states with evidence of central sensitization. This article reports the results of a 13-week, randomized, [...]
Return to top of page