Chapters authored
Is Chronic Post-Surgical Pain Preventable?
Chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) is a common problem following surgery. It has significant impact on the patients’ quality of life, chronic pain treatment services and resources in general. The prevalence of CPSP ranges between 5 and 50% of all surgical patients, but severe CPSP is present in less than 10% of the patients. The recognised potential risk factors for CPSP are young age, female gender, overweight, psychological factors, genetic tendency, pre-operative pain, surgery-related factors and severe post-operative pain. Hence, early identification of patients at risk will help to reduce the proportion of patients who are likely to develop CPSP. Different modalities of treatments or interventions are used to prevent the CPSP. These modalities include pre-emptive use of gabapentin, pregabalin or SNRIs, perioperative administration of ketamine, NSAIDs and steroids. In addition, the following interventions have been studied: surgical technique selection, regional and local anaesthesia, intrathecal administration of morphine and multimodal analgesia. Since the present evidence of these interventions is inconclusive because of methodological issues, further studies are still needed to develop more effective and evidence-based strategies to prevent CPSP.
Part of the book: Pain Management in Special Circumstances
The Role of Cupping Therapy in Pain Management: A Literature Review
Cupping therapy is an ancient method which has been used for centuries for various painful conditions. It is performed by applying cups to selected skin points most commonly in the back aiming to create areas of sub-atmospheric pressure. It has been classified as either dry or wet type of therapy. Its mechanism of action is not well understood but several proposed mechanisms are described in the literature. It is relatively safe with a few reported side effects which include scar formation and skin infection. In this paper, a review of the literature will be presented to determine its potential benefits in pain management particularly in musculo-skeletal conditions such as low back and neck pain.
Part of the book: Pain Management