Active clinical trials for "Somatoform Disorders"

The study aims to evaluate the effect of low load resistance training combined with blood flow restriction or sham blood flow restriction in patients with anterior knee pain and rotator cuff related shoulder pain in a cross-over two-arm randomized, participant and assessor blinded design. More specifically, we aim to investigate the acute and short-term hypoalgesic response (by evaluating pressure pain detection thresholds) of low load exercise with blood flow restriction or sham blood flow restriction, the effect of these interventions in pain during clinical testing, and the possibility of a placebo effect.

This study aims to determine if there is any difference in terms of pain relief in patients with shoulder subacromial pain syndrome, when given a steroid injection into the subacromial space via an anterolateral approach compared to a posterior approach.

SPECIFIC AIMS Pain in both youth and adults is a complex, subjective and personal experience, and remains poorly understood. One particularly perplexing dimension of some forms of pain is the tendency of pain to spread outside of an affected body site to adjacent location, and then to unaffected body sites. Such widespread pain may reflect an altered spatial tuning of somatosensory processing, such that lateral inhibition is diminished, thereby allowing pain to spread. To date, no therapies exist which are designed specifically to diminish or even reverse the spatial spread of pain. However, training in two-point discrimination holds the potential to retune spatial aspects of somatosensory processing and may represent a novel therapy for widespread pain. Thus, the present investigation will test the following aims: Aim 1. Do youth with chronic pain have disrupted spatial tuning of somatosensory processing? Deficits in two point tactile discrimination have long been noted in adults with chronic pain, but such deficits remain poorly documented in pediatric chronic pain patients. In order to determine if such deficits exist, youth with both chronic pain and healthy youth will undergo assessment of two point discrimination thresholds. Aim 2. Does two-point discrimination training result in diminished pain and disability in youth with somatic pain? After initial characterization of tactile discrimination thresholds, youth with chronic pain will participate in multiple sessions of either two-point discrimination training or a single-point spatially-directed attentional control condition. Training will involve up to 9 additional sessions. Efficacy of training will be assessed by 1) reductions in the spatial extent of pain, 2) reductions in pain intensity and unpleasantness, and 3) reductions in pain-related disability.

Fibromyalgia pain syndrome is a common debilitating condition which associates mainly generalised pain, emotional distress and cognitive symptoms. The etiology is unknown, and no specific treatment exists so far. Lately, shock-waves have been used successfully to treat painful skeletal muscle, tendons and fascia, the investigators therefore hypothesize that shock-waves could be useful in alleviating Fibromyalgia pain. Two similar groups of participants bearing the condition will be prospectively compared. The first group will benefit from the application of shock-waves weekly for 12 weeks, the second will not. The investigators intend to study if there is any difference in pain and quality of life between the two groups at the end of the three months.

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a disease provoking chronic pain in the limbs, following a trauma. Patient care is complicated by the variable clinical picture and response to treatment. The stress level of the organization, for chronic pain impacts the regulation of the autonomic balance. The study of time and frequency domain analysis of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) allows non-invasive and reproducible assessment of the autonomic balance.

Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is characterized by single or multiple trigger points (TrP) in taut bands within the affected muscles. Chronic MPS over neck is prevalent and responsible for markedly loss of work-day and a reduction of quality of life. Intravascular laser irradiation of blood (ILIB) involves in vivo illumination of the blood by low-level laser light through an optical fiber inserted in a vein. Researches disclosed that ILIB reduced blood viscosity, enhanced erythrocyte deformity, and increased oxygen saturation in blood. However, no research studies the effectiveness of ILIB to treat MPS. Real-time sonoelastography (RTS) and shear wave velocity (SWV) are used to detect the stiffness of skeletal muscles. RTS is displayed as a color-coded graphic to represent the relative stiffness of structures. For a given material, faster SWV indicates the greater stiffness. To our knowledge, only one research using RTS and SWV to study MPS. To elucidate the effectiveness of ILIB to treat chronic MPS over neck, and the validity of RTS and SWV for MPS, we conducted this study.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether pregabalin is an effective treatment for Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome.

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) can affect both sexes and lasts at least for 3 months. CPP in women could be due to endometrioses, ovarian cyst, colitis, etc, making the correct diagnosis important (1-3). The most prevalent reason for CPP in men is non-bacterial chronic prostatitis and in many cases they are considered equivalent to each other (4). Chronic non-bacterial prostatitis is associated with pain in pelvic region and could be associated with other symptoms such as dysuria, myalgia, arthralgia, chronic fatigue, burning sensation in the urethra, abdominal, urine frequency, and pain after ejaculation (4-6). Chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is devided into two groups: III A Type (inflammatory) and III B (Non-inflammatory). The difference between the two groups is the presence of leukocytes in prostatic secretions after prostate massage, urine and semen (7,8). In general population, the prevalence of chronic pelvic pain syndrome is about 0.5 percent because many patients do not consider their symptoms as disease, while 6.3% of people may show symptoms (9-11). One of the most important challenges in the treatment of chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome, is that its etiology is obscure and it is known as a multi-factorial syndrome. The proposed explanations are infection, psychological reasons, autoimmunity and neuro-myospasm. Hypotheses about endothelial cells defect and cardio vascular disease have also been proposed, upon which the new therapies have been based. In duplex mapping study of prostatic vessels in two groups of healthy and chronic non-bacterial prostatitis people, it was shown that there was a significant reduction in systolic flow in prostatic arteries in people who had chronic non-bacterial prostatitis, and there was a direct association between pain and blood flow intensity, suggesting chronic ischemia as a possible cause for pain (13). Pain in prostate without significant infection is the hallmark of chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome (5). In physical exam, prostate or pelvic tenderness may be observed in half of the patients. The diagnosis of chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome is challenging. No specific lab test exists for its detection. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) level, which is typically increased in acute infection, is usually normal in this condition. The diagnostic approach in these patients is based on ruling out other curable causes such as benign prostatic hyperplasia or bladder cancer (14-20). NIH Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI) is used to evaluate symptom severity and response to treatment in these patients. A reduction of 4-6 points in the score is considered significant response to the treatment (21). There is no first line treatment for patients of chronic pelvic pain syndrome. The use of anti-bacterial, alpha-blockers or anti-inflammatory drug is logical. However, if the patient does not respond, further administration is not helpful. In non-responders, combination of drugs or other non-medical methods should be considered (23-26). As discussed earlier, blood flow reduction, ischemia and disorders in endothelium of vessels may cause pain in these patients and methods to improve blow flow may help(13,27). One of these methods is extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) which is typically used for tendonitis, acceleration in bone reunion and wound healing, improvement in muscle movements through a reduction in passive muscular tonus, increasing muscular range of motion after cerebrovascular accident (CVA), treatment of Peyronie's disease and erectile dysfunction (28-30). Shoskes et al compared 24 chronic prostatitis patients with 11 controls in terms of vascular stiffness, indexes of increased blood flow, vasodilation and reactive vascular hyperemia, using Endo-PAT ® 2000-Machine. They showed that endothelial disorder and stiffness along with the risk of cardiovascular disorders are increased in CP/CPPS (31). The use of ESWT for the treatment of CP/CPPS has been evaluated in a few studies. In a double-blind randomized control trial, Zimmermann et al placed 60 patients with chronic pelvic pain syndrome from chronic non-bacterial prostatitis into two groups and treated one of them in 4 sessions with a frequency of 3000 per session. The treatment group showed superior results in terms of symptom improvement(32). In another study, Zimmermann et al followed 34 patients with chronic pelvic pain syndrome, after one, four and twelve weeks post ESWT in terms of quality of life and pain reduction. They showed that this method is useful and without any complications (33). Considering the promising results of the cited articles along with the paucity of data in this regard we decided to perform a double-blind sham-controlled study to evaluate the effectiveness of ESWT in CP/CPPS.

The investigators hypothesize that fibromyalgia (FM) and painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (pDPN) patients with access restrictions on pregabalin will lead to higher healthcare resource use and cost compared to patients without such restrictions on pregabalin in a naturalistic setting. The randomization will occur at the physician level and not the patient level.

Fibromyalgia is a medical condition characterized by musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances and depression. It affects population at a socioeconomically active age and represents a burden for the patients and the health care system due to its personal and functional implications. At this moment, there is no completely effective treatment for fibromyalgia, and acupuncture has been a promising alternative. This trial aims to evaluate if addition of acupuncture to standard care represents an improvement in comparison with standard care only. Thus, patients enrolled in this trial will be randomly allocated into one of two groups: group A, who besides standard treatment will receive 12 sessions of acupuncture; and group B, who will receive standard care with monthly orientation sessions for the same period. Patients will be evaluated at baseline, after completion of acupuncture treatment or orientation, and after an additional 12-week follow up. Evaluation will be based on diaries of pain and medication, and standard scales of pain, quality of life and disability.