These news summaries are provided on a weekly basis. Click on the story title to read the entire article. Some stories may have a reply by NFTP. Click on Read our viewpoint at the end of the summary to access the reply. Archives of all stories are provided monthly.

October 3--October 9, 1998

Alternative Migraine Treatments Need Study (10/8/98)

Alternative therapies to treating migraine -- such as acupuncture, visits to a chiropractor, and some herbal remedies -- deserve further study, according to one migraine expert. A review of the available data suggests that some of these therapies may have promise, reported Dr. Ken Holroyd, a psychologist from Ohio University in Athens, at the recent Consensus Symposium on Improving Migraine Management. The symposium, which was held in Washington, DC, was sponsored by the American Association for the Study of Headache and the International Headache Society. (Source: Reuters)

Human Touch Makes A Difference In Back Care-Study (10/8/98)

Chiropractic and physical therapy are slightly better than routine treatment for back pain and the human touch they involve appears to make the difference, researchers reported in this week's New England Journal of Medicine. A back experiment compared chiropractic manipulations of the spine to a popular form of physical therapy known as the McKenzie method. (Source: Reuters)

Morphine Paste Significantly Reduces Pain Following Lumbar Surgery (10/8/98)

A morphine-based analgesic paste, applied directly to the epidural space during lumbar surgery, significantly improves postoperative pain control, according to study results presented this week at the annual meeting of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons in Seattle. Dr. Nicholas Theodore of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix and Dr. R. John Hurlbert of the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and colleagues collaborated on a double-blind randomized study of 60 patients who underwent elective lumbar decompression surgery. (Source: Reuters)

More Pain Among Dying (10/7/98)

A new study says end-of-life care in Oregon has seen a sharp increase in pain in the final weeks of life for many Oregonians. Kathleen Haley of the Board of Medical Examiners says the study is being released in the medical community in an effort to let doctors know they should give adequate care to dying patients.(Source: States News Service)

Statement By The American Chiropractic Association On The Comparison Of Treatments Of Low Back Pain Published In The New England Journal Of Medicine (10/7/98)

The study published in the October 8 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine is the latest study on back pain; however, it is not the most in-depth or valid study on low back pain conducted in recent years. While ACA welcomes new and continuing research on the types of treatment doctors of chiropractic provide, this study, in particular, has several areas that must be addressed. (Source: American Chiropractic Association via PR Newswire)

Back Pain Linked To Personal Dissatisfaction (10/7/98)

A general dissatisfaction with one's social and economic situation can double or triple the likelihood of low back pain, researchers report. But these factors were not linked to employment status, since the prevalence of low back pain was found to be similar among the employed and the unemployed, report UK researchers at the University of Manchester and the University of Keele in Stoke on Trent. Their report appears in the current issue of the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. To investigate this possibility, the British researchers compared the 12-month incidence of reported low back pain in a group of over 2,700 British adults. (Source: Reuters)

Patients With Migraine Often Go Without Treatment (10/5/98)

People who suffer migraines often go without treatment because they think doctors will not take them seriously, and because they do not know there are drugs that can help them, experts said this week. They are often right about doctors' attitudes, said the American Association for the Study of Headache (AASH) and the International Headache Society (IHS) in a joint statement after a weekend meeting. (Source: Reuters)

Pain And Quality Of Life In Cancer Patients (10/5/98)

The physical pain of living with recurrent cancer may lead to diminished social and physical functioning in patients, which in turn, can make the pain worse, according to researchers at the Mayo Medical School and Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Results of their study of 117 women with recurrent breast or gynecological cancer, appear in the September/October issue of Psychosomatics. Dr. Teresa A. Rummans and colleagues examined the relationship between pain and other independent predictors of quality of life, including physical, emotional, and spiritual factors. (Source: Psychosomatics 1998;39:437-445 via Reuters)

How Does Marijuana Kill Pain? (10/4/98)

Scientists at the University of California at San Francisco found that a marijuana-like drug deadens pain in rats by interacting with the same pain-modulating area of the brain activated by morphine. The findings prove that cannabinoids, which include marijuana's active ingredient THC, are potent analgesics that deliver true pain relief, said Ian Meng, a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF's Department of Neurology. In findings reported in the Sept. 24 issue of the journal Nature, the UCSF researchers describe how they injected rats with a synthetic cannabinoid to test how quickly the rodents reacted when a heat source was applied to their tails. (Source: The Associated Press)