Painful knee osteoarthritis? What is the effect of platelet-rich plasma injections?

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We come across lots of people who have painful knees due to osetoarthritis. They are always looking for ways to reduce their pain. A relatively new treatment has emerged, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections.  PRP is an autologous (where the donor and recipient are the same person) blood product with an elevated platelet concentration. Platelet-derived growth factors regulate [read the full story…]

Is aquatic exercise training effective for fibromyalgia?

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One of our female Elf friends has fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that causes pain all over their body. Do you know that fibromyalgia affects around seven times as many women as men? The condition typically develops between the ages of 30 and 50, but can occur in people of any age, including children and the elderly. [read the full story…]

Health related quality of life after total hip replacement

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Do you know that over 1 million hip replacements are carried out each year? The majority of Total Hip Replacements are for people with severe arthritis of the hip that causes pain and reduction in function. We elves wanted to know for someone with osteoarthritis of the hip what are the medium term health related [read the full story…]

Does exercise improve pain and function for osteoarthritis of the knee?

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We learnt in an earlier post about the burden of musculoskeletal conditions that osteoarthritis (OA) develops around the age of 50. Blimey some of our elves are approaching that age. What can we do to help any symptoms that start to develop? We eleves are always looking to stay fit and thought that exercise might help. But [read the full story…]

Is exercise effective for osteoarthritis of the hip for pain and function?

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In this blog, Tracey Howe considers a recent Cochrane systematic review examining whether land-based therapeutic exercise is beneficial for people with hip osteoarthritis in terms of reduced joint pain and improved physical function and quality of life.

[read the full story...]

Exercise Therapy for Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

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In this blog, Tracey Howe considers a new systematic review that examined the literature to determine whether exercise therapy is an effective intervention to reduce pain and patient-reported measures of activity limitations and participation restrictions (PRMALP) in patients with patellofemoral pain.

[read the full story...]

Exercise in water for osteoarthritis of the lower limbs

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In this blog, Tracey Howe considers a recent systematic review which examines the effect of therapeutic aquatic exercise on symptoms and function associated with lower limb osteoarthritis.

[read the full story...]

Salicylate-containing rubefacients for musculoskeletal pain in adults

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Should you use or prescribe rubefacients (creams and lotions that irritate the skin) to relieve musculoskeletal pain? We report on a new Cochrane systematic review that focuses on salicylate-containing rubefacients for acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain.

[read the full story...]

Face-to-face psychotherapy for chronic pain in children and adolescents: Cochrane review calls for better primary research

Lisa Burscheidt summarises a recent Cochrane review of psychotherapy for chronic pain in children and adolescents, which concludes that psychological therapies should be considered as a treatment, but better primary studies are needed to help steer pain management decisions.

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Small study suggests positive effect for hyaluronic acid spray on swelling and trismus after third molar removal

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Postoperative pain, swelling and trismus are common postoperative problems following the removal of impacted third molars. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a major carbohydrate component of the extracellular matrix and can be found in many tissues and has been introduced as a bio-material with potential to enhance wound healing. It has been used in ophthalmology, dermatology, [read the full story…]