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Moretti A, Snichelotto F, Liguori S, Paoletta M, Toro G, Gimigliano F, Iolascon G. The challenge of pharmacotherapy for musculoskeletal pain: an overview of unmet needs. Ther Adv Musculoskelet Dis 2024; 16:1759720X241253656. [PMID: 38799611 PMCID: PMC11119417 DOI: 10.1177/1759720x241253656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2023] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Musculoskeletal disorders are characterized by several impairments, including pain, affecting muscles, bones, joints and adjacent connective tissue, resulting in temporary or permanent functional limitations and disability. Musculoskeletal pain is particularly prevalent worldwide and greatly impacts the quality of life, social participation and economic burden. To date, several issues persist about the classification of musculoskeletal pain and its management strategies and resources. The treatment of musculoskeletal pain conditions is complex and often requires a multimodal approach, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapy that might be ineffective in many cases, resulting in poor patient satisfaction and controversial expectations about the potential benefits of available interventions. This manuscript provides an overview of unmet needs in managing musculoskeletal pain, particularly focusing on pharmacotherapeutic pitfalls in this context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antimo Moretti
- Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties and Dentistry, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Naples 80138, Italy
| | - Francesco Snichelotto
- Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties and Dentistry, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Naples, Italy
| | - Sara Liguori
- Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties and Dentistry, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Naples, Italy
| | - Marco Paoletta
- Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties and Dentistry, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Naples, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Toro
- Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties and Dentistry, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Naples, Italy
| | - Francesca Gimigliano
- Department of Physical and Mental Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Naples, Italy
| | - Giovanni Iolascon
- Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties and Dentistry, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Naples, Italy
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Zang W, Yan J. Exercise interventions for nonspecific low back pain: a bibliometric analysis of global research from 2018 to 2023. Front Med (Lausanne) 2024; 11:1390920. [PMID: 38741767 PMCID: PMC11089117 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1390920] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Objective This study aims to explore global research trends on exercise interventions for nonspecific low back pain from 2018 to 2023 through bibliometric analysis. Methods A systematic search was conducted in the Web of Science Core Collection database to select relevant research articles published between 2018 and 2023. Using CiteSpace and VOSviewer, the relationships and impacts among publications, different countries, journals, author groups, references, and keywords were analyzed in depth. Results The bibliometric analysis included 4,896 publications, showing a trend of initial growth followed by a decline. At the national level, the United States made the most significant contributions in this field. The journal "Lancet" had three of the top 10 most-cited articles, with an average citation count of 306.33, and an impact factor reaching 168.9 in 2023. The analysis also revealed that "disability," "prevalence," and "management" were high-frequency keywords beyond the search terms, while "rehabilitation medicine," "experiences," and "brain" emerged as new hotspots in the research. Conclusion This study reveals the global trends in research on exercise interventions for nonspecific low back pain over the past 5 years and highlights potential research frontiers in the field. These findings provide a solid foundation for focusing on key issues, potential collaboration directions, and trends in research development in the future, offering valuable references for further in-depth studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wanli Zang
- Postgraduate School, Harbin Sport University, Harbin, China
| | - Jin Yan
- School of Physical Education and Sports Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
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Barakat A, Munro G, Heegaard AM. Finding new analgesics: Computational pharmacology faces drug discovery challenges. Biochem Pharmacol 2024; 222:116091. [PMID: 38412924 DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2024.116091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Despite the worldwide prevalence and huge burden of pain, pain is an undertreated phenomenon. Currently used analgesics have several limitations regarding their efficacy and safety. The discovery of analgesics possessing a novel mechanism of action has faced multiple challenges, including a limited understanding of biological processes underpinning pain and analgesia and poor animal-to-human translation. Computational pharmacology is currently employed to face these challenges. In this review, we discuss the theory, methods, and applications of computational pharmacology in pain research. Computational pharmacology encompasses a wide variety of theoretical concepts and practical methodological approaches, with the overall aim of gaining biological insight through data acquisition and analysis. Data are acquired from patients or animal models with pain or analgesic treatment, at different levels of biological organization (molecular, cellular, physiological, and behavioral). Distinct methodological algorithms can then be used to analyze and integrate data. This helps to facilitate the identification of biological molecules and processes associated with pain phenotype, build quantitative models of pain signaling, and extract translatable features between humans and animals. However, computational pharmacology has several limitations, and its predictions can provide false positive and negative findings. Therefore, computational predictions are required to be validated experimentally before drawing solid conclusions. In this review, we discuss several case study examples of combining and integrating computational tools with experimental pain research tools to meet drug discovery challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmed Barakat
- Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
| | | | - Anne-Marie Heegaard
- Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Grenier JP, Rothmund M. A critical review of the role of manual therapy in the treatment of individuals with low back pain. J Man Manip Ther 2024:1-14. [PMID: 38381584 DOI: 10.1080/10669817.2024.2316393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2023] [Accepted: 02/04/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024] Open
Abstract
The number of low back pain (LBP) cases is projected to increase to more than 800 million by 2050. To address the substantial burden of disease associated with this rise in prevalence, effective treatments are needed. While clinical practice guidelines (CPG) consistently recommend non-pharmacological therapies as first-line treatments, recommendations regarding manual therapy (MT) in treating low back pain vary. The goal of this narrative review was to critically summarize the available evidence for MT behind these recommendations, to scrutinize its mechanisms of action, and propose some actionable steps for clinicians on how this knowledge can be integrated into a person-centered approach. Despite disparate recommendations from CPG, MT is as effective as other available treatments and may be offered to patients with LBP, especially as part of a treatment package with exercise and education. Most of the effects of MT are not specific to the technique. MT and other interventions share several mechanisms of action that mediate treatment success. These mechanisms can encompass patients' expectations, prior experiences, beliefs and convictions, epistemic trust, and nonspecific contextual effects. Although MT is safer than opioids for patients with LBP, this alone is insufficient. Our goal is to encourage clinicians to shift away from outdated and refuted ideas in MT and embrace a person-centered approach rooted in a comprehensive biopsychosocial framework while incorporating patients' beliefs, addressing illness behaviors, and seeking to understand each patient's journey.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Pascal Grenier
- Department of Physiotherapy, Health University of Applied Sciences Tyrol, Innsbruck, Austria
- Department of Internal Medicine II, University Clinic Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Maria Rothmund
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics, and Medical Psychology, University Clinic for Psychiatry II, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
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Hamilton M, Christine Lin CW, Arora S, Harrison M, Tracy M, Nickel B, Shaheed CA, Gnjidic D, Mathieson S. Understanding general practitioners' prescribing choices to patients with chronic low back pain: a discrete choice experiment. Int J Clin Pharm 2024; 46:111-121. [PMID: 37882955 PMCID: PMC10831024 DOI: 10.1007/s11096-023-01649-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 10/27/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although NSAIDs are recommended as a first line analgesic treatment, opioids are very commonly prescribed to patients with low back pain (LBP) despite risks of harms. AIM This study aimed to determine factors contributing to general practitioners' (GPs') prescribing choices to patients with chronic LBP in a primary care setting. METHOD This discrete choice experiment (DCE) presented 210 GPs with hypothetical scenarios of a patient with chronic LBP. Participants chose their preferred treatment for each choice set, either the opioid, NSAID or neither. The scenarios varied by two patient attributes; non-specific LBP or LBP with referred leg pain (sciatica) and number of comorbidities. The three treatment attributes also varied, being: the type of opioid or NSAID, degree of pain reduction and number of adverse events. The significance of each attribute in influencing clinical decisions was the primary outcome and the degree to which GPs preferred the alternative based on the number of adverse events or the amount of pain reduction was the secondary outcome. RESULTS Overall, GPs preferred NSAIDs (45.2%, 95% CI 38.7-51.7%) over opioids (28.8%, 95% CI 23.0-34.7%), however there was no difference between the type of NSAID or opioid preferred. Additionally, the attributes of pain reduction and adverse events did not influence a GP's choice between NSAIDs or opioids for patients with chronic LBP. CONCLUSION GPs prefer prescribing NSAIDs over opioids for a patient with chronic low back pain regardless of patient factors of comorbidities or the presence of leg pain (i.e. sciatica).
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Affiliation(s)
- Melanie Hamilton
- Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Level 10 North, King George V Building, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (C39), Missenden Road, PO Box M179, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW, 2050, Australia.
- Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
| | - Chung-Wei Christine Lin
- Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Level 10 North, King George V Building, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (C39), Missenden Road, PO Box M179, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW, 2050, Australia
- Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Sheena Arora
- Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Mark Harrison
- Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- The Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Sciences (CHEOS) at St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Marguerite Tracy
- Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Brooke Nickel
- Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Christina Abdel Shaheed
- Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Level 10 North, King George V Building, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (C39), Missenden Road, PO Box M179, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW, 2050, Australia
- School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Danijela Gnjidic
- School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Stephanie Mathieson
- Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Level 10 North, King George V Building, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (C39), Missenden Road, PO Box M179, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW, 2050, Australia
- Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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Bejarano G, Vining R, Desai DP, Minchew J, Michael Guo H, Goertz C. Development of a low back pain care pathway in an academic hospital system: results of a consensus process. J Orthop Surg Res 2024; 19:11. [PMID: 38169412 PMCID: PMC10763186 DOI: 10.1186/s13018-023-04492-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability worldwide and a significant component of healthcare expenditures. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been highlighted as a key resource to improve the quality of care. This study aimed to develop a clinical pathway for LBP based on CPGs in an academic health system. METHODS We conducted a modified Delphi study of clinicians caring for patients with LBP who were asked to rate 21 CPG-informed seed statements through an online survey. The goal was to identify statements that achieved a minimum of 80% consensus among panelists. RESULTS Thirty-five healthcare providers participated as panelists. The majority of participants were male (68.6%), had MD or DO (62.9%) degrees, and were clinicians (73.8%) working in neurosurgery (36.1%), orthopedics (25.7%), emergency medicine (14.3%), or physical therapy (11.4%). Initially, consensus was reached on 20 of 21 seed statements. One statement did not reach consensus in the initial round and was revised into two separate statements based on feedback from panelists. One of these statements achieved consensus in the second review round. All statements reaching consensus were incorporated into a care pathway consisting of diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment for LBP. CONCLUSION Healthcare providers across various disciplines supported statements interpreting current CPGs related to care for LBP. This study represents a step toward supporting guideline-concordant care for LBP. Additional research is needed to assess how such pathways impact actual clinical care.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Devan P Desai
- Duke University, 300 W. Morgan Street, Office 441, Durham, NC, 27701, USA
| | - Joe Minchew
- Duke University, 300 W. Morgan Street, Office 441, Durham, NC, 27701, USA
| | - H Michael Guo
- Duke University, 300 W. Morgan Street, Office 441, Durham, NC, 27701, USA
| | - Christine Goertz
- Duke University, 300 W. Morgan Street, Office 441, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
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