Intercostal nerve blocks for Pain Relief Nerves are present almost everywhere but are incredibly densely packed within our limbs and extremities and around major organs. In cases of acute, subacute, and chronic pain, a well-planned nerve block can do a lot to significantly reduce a patient’s discomfort as their body heals or give them the…

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Pain is an important sense, allowing us to navigate the world while avoiding mortal danger. But pain can also work against us, making life a living hell. For over 50 million Americans, pain has become an intrusive and debilitating part of their daily lives. Most Americans living with chronic pain experience lower back pain first…

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Opioids have played a major role in pain management since the days of laudanum, a tincture of about 10 percent opium, and various other ingredients, ranging from citrus juice to gold. While medicine has come far from the days when the poppy plant was praised as magical, and laudanum was sold as a cough suppressant,…

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It’s a common mistake to assume that children and infants experience pain differently from adults. However, the only supporting evidence behind that theory is a lack of evidence – infants cannot properly communicate how they feel, and interpreting an infant’s wants and needs is very difficult. Contrary to this old belief, recent research shows that…

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Women are generally more likely to experience chronic pain in their lifetime than men are. Depending on the source, women are anywhere from four to seven times as likely as men to suffer from fibromyalgia, are more likely to develop osteoporosis, are at greater risk for arthritis after 55, and women have more back pain…

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Pain is a fact of life and oftentimes a useful one. While it’s a partner we generally tend to loathe, pain is a partner that saves lives. It’s often through pain that people first become aware that something is wrong in their bodies, and it’s through following the pain that many physicians diagnose countless patients…

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Chronic pain and acute pain are two very different things. Certain stimuli make the body react to send a signal of pain through the cells to the brain. There, we perceive an uncomfortable jolt, an aching feeling, a burning sensation. Pain can be sharp, dull, hot, sudden, or slow – but it’s always a bad…

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Back pain seems to be nearly ubiquitous among the elderly, but did you know that signs of back pain begin to develop around the age of 40, and as young as 30 in some cases? This is just one among many facts that highlights how widespread back pain is and has been – yet a…

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Complex regional pain syndrome, or CRPS, is a collection of symptoms occurring in one area of the body usually after a prior injury. The pain is chronic (lasting longer than six months) and is generally caused by a malfunction of the nerves in the area, or possibly, a problem with pain signals firing when they…

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Pain is a natural sense, and as much as we try to avoid it, it’s also an inevitable part of life. When it functions properly, pain allows us to reorient and navigate the world more sensible fashion. We learn that some things are a bad idea because the pain outweighs any feasible benefit. But pain…

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