Active clinical trials for "Somatoform Disorders"

30 patients with chronic cervical myofascial pain (4 males, 26 females) aged between 25 to 57 years (with average age 41,20±10,23 years) were included the study. Participants were divided into two groups as intervention group (n=15) and control group (n=15). Patients in intervention group received radial shock-wave application one times a week for six weeks and home based stretching exercises. Patients in control group (CG) received home based stretching exercises. Rest and activity pain (Visual Analog Scale), pressure pain threshold (PPT), cervical range of motion (CROM) and disability (Neck Disability Index) were assessed at baseline and after the treatment.

The hypothesis was that a large fraction of individuals with common mental disorders were undetected in long-term sickness and that detection of the disorders by screening, a psychiatric diagnostic examination and feedback to the individuals, primary care, and rehabilitation officers improved return to work, improved quality of life and reduced psychological distress.

This study examines the prevalence of trigger points in muscles in the thorax in upper limb Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) patients, compared to healthy subjects. In addition, we will examine if adding treatment to muscles in the thoracic area (to the regular physical therapy treatment) will alleviate some of the sensitivity in the upper limb in CRPS patients.

This study's primary aim is to compare time to relapse and relapse rates in responders to acute escitalopram who are then randomized to placebo versus continuation treatment with escitalopram.

Objectives: Establishing and validating an electrotherapy procedure with interferential current (IFC) application using electro-massage on patients who have undergone acromioplasty surgery. To evaluate the possible decrease in pain perception and improvement of functionality following surgical intervention. Design: Randomized, single blind clinical trial. Subjects: 18-patients, aged 18 to 65, with a similar distribution of male and female participants Methods: 10-patients will be enrolled in the experimental group and 8 patients as the control group. Both groups of patients will undergo six physiotherapy sessions (three times a week). The experimental group will undergo a treatment consisting of electro-massage with constant voltage (CV) IFC bipolar application, 4000 Hz carrier current and 100 Hz amplitude modulated frequency (AMF). Two 48 cm2 electrodes will be used. Session length with electrotherapy will be approximately ten minutes.

Myofascial pain syndrome (MAS) is defined as a regional painful syndrome characterized by pain and tenderness in a muscle group or a muscle, a taut band within the muscle, pain reflected by pressing, and the presence of trigger points. It causes localized muscle pain in the shoulder and neck. The frequency of mas is around 12% in the normal population, and its frequency increases in those with chronic diseases. It is more common in the 30-60 age range and in the female population. Mechanical causes such as micro-macro trauma, nociceptive disorders, physical fatigue, psychological stress and genetic factors are blamed in its etiopathogenesis. Painful myofascial trigger points may occur by pressing on all muscles in the body, although it is more common in the trazius muscle, especially in those who work at a desk, who are constantly in a certain position, and who are sedentary. Myofascial trigger points are often detected by examination.

Central nervous system (CNS) changes associated with pain have been difficult to measure until the development of functional neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET). We have previously observed asymmetry in the thalamus associated with chronic pain that altered during acupuncture therapy. Imaging studies of therapeutic techniques for chronic pain in animals and humans have been quite limited. This study will be the first to utilize FDG PET-MRI imaging of both the brain and body in order to assess CNS changes and peripheral body changes related to chronic pain and its potential management.

Musculoskeletal dysfunction is considered as a major public health problem affecting about one third of the adult population. Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) characterized by myofacial trigger points as well as fascia tenderness are thought to be the main cause of musculoskeletal dysfunction. The aim of the treatment for musculoskeletal dysfunction is to reduce pain and restore normal function. Clinically, some evidence supports the application of kinesio tape in these patients. The underlying mechanism, however, is not clear. The investigators goal was to validate proposed mechanism of kinesio tape in these patients. The primary outcome are muscle stiffness, pain intensity and sensitivity.

Assess pain, function, trunk and lower limbs kinematic during functional tasks after hip muscle strengthening versus hip muscle strengthening and sensory motor training in lower limbs.

Pediatric chronic pain disorders are common and consequential in Western societies, occurring in 25-80% of population-based samples with a median prevalence of 11-38% and significant pain-related disability in 3-5% of these children. Pediatric chronic pain disorders have a negative impact on many aspects children's lives including mobility, night sleep, school attendance, peer relationships, family functioning, and overall quality of life. Parents caring for these children risk loss of parental earnings, and these disorders place a high financial burden on healthcare. In a nationally representative sample in the United States, costs related to health care were significantly higher ($1,339 per capita) for children with chronic pain disorders compared to children with common pediatric health conditions of ADHD, asthma and obesity. In children with clinical chronic pain conditions, such as daily headaches or fibromyalgia, chronic pain is presumably a persistent state of an overly excitable nervous system. This phenomenon known as central sensitization is characterized by excessive pain sensitivity that occurs in response to non-painful stimuli, such as light touch or contact with clothing, and slightly painful stimuli, such as a light pinprick. This hypersensitivity results from peculiar changes in the working of the central nervous system, including the spinal cord and brain, and leads to unusual intensification of pain that is out of proportion to the inciting stimulus. For example, light touch from clothing on the skin is perceived as intensely painful. Central sensitization is also thought to contribute to the spreading of pain to other body sites in several chronic pain disorders. In chronic pain disorders, the function of the central descending inhibitory modulating system is likely impaired and is traditionally measured by a phenomenon identified as "conditioned pain modulation (CPM)" and more recently measured by a phenomenon of "offset analgesia" (OA). The OA test is more robust than the CPM test and likely more acceptable to most patients, especially children, because it is shorter in duration and uses a more tolerable painful stimulus. Compared to CPM, the OA test is more tolerable because it is conducted using a painful test stimulus that is less than the maximal (suprathreshold). Additionally, the time of exposure to the painful stimulus is significantly shorter, a few seconds, in the OA test compared to CPM. The central descending inhibitory pathway that modulates pain as tested by OA is functional and mature in healthy children as young as 6 year of age, but it has yet to be investigated in children with chronic pain disorders. The investigators plan to test OA responses in a population of common pediatric pain disorders with overlapping symptomology attributed to central sensitization (such as chronic musculoskeletal pain, chronic abdominal pain and chronic headaches and chronic regional pain syndromes) and compare their responses with an age- and sex-matched control group. The characteristics of OA responses in each group will allow for assessment of the presence or absence of central sensitization as a mechanism driving the persistent, abnormal pain in a subgroup of these chronic pain disorders. The investigators hypothesize that central sensitization is the potential contributory mechanism of the central nervous system heightened sensitivity to two testing stimuli of painful (moderate heat discomfort sensation) and non-painful (warmth sensation) in children with chronic pain disorders. These types of sensations mimic those that children would be expected to experience their natural environment during typical activities of daily living such as showering/bathing in warm water or hand washing. Additionally, the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ) and Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI) will be used as clinical screening tools for subjective report of sensitization symptoms, and are simple and easy to administer in a clinical setting. The investigators hypothesize that these measures will correlate with the objective offset analgesia responses thus allowing for assessment of central sensitization in children with chronic pain disorders. These tests are advantageous because they are feasible to perform rapidly in a clinic setting and have utility for measurement of patient responses to therapeutic interventions. If this concept is supported by this study, future studies could utilize OA to examine the effects of various pharmacological and physical interventions used to manage children with chronic pain disorders including intensive interdisciplinary rehabilitation or specific interventions such as aerobic exercise, which likely modulates pain via similar mechanisms.