Neuropathic pain following spinal cord injury pain: mechanisms and treatment

Use of medicines, adherence and attitudes to medicines among persons with chronic spinal cord injury

“…The explanation could be that treatment of neuropathic pain is often difficult, and oral analgesics only give a small or moderate pain relief. 24,25 The results show that over two thirds were highly or moderately adherent to their regular drugs, which is more than what has been found in previous studies with persons with other chronic conditions, where 11-56% of the persons had a high level of adherence. [26][27][28] The adherence was also high for spasmolytic drugs.…”

“…Pregabalin, gabapentin and amitriptyline were among the 10 most frequently used APIs in this population, and are known to be the most effective drugs in the treatment of neuropathic pain among persons with SCI. 24 The majority of the drugs on demand were also analgesics, with paracetamol, tramadole and codeine being the most frequently used APIs. Despite the fact that about two thirds of the participants used analgesics regularly, almost everyone (94%) reported that they experienced some level of pain at the time of the interview.…”

Chronic Pain in People with Physically Disabling Conditions: A Review of the Application of Biopsychosocial Models

“…Interpreting the findings of this body of work, particularly attempting to make comparisons across conditions, should therefore be done with caution keeping in mind some important caveats. First, there are variations across studies concerning the nature of the pain conditions which are the subject of investigation, spinal cord injury has been undertaken by a number of groups, with more concordance among the groups in relation to some pain types than others, such as neuropathic pains (Cardenas, Felix, Cardenas, & Felix, 2009;Finnerup, Baastrup, & Jensen, 2009;Siddall, Yezierski, & Loeser, 2000). A recent systematic review of the prevalence of chronic pain of all causes among those with traumatic spinal cord injury have identified more than forty high quality studies from across the world, but the authors note that despite this there are many contradictions and unanswered questions about the nature of chronic pain in this group (Dijkers, Bryce, & Zanca, 2009).…”

Red-light (670 nm) therapy reduces mechanical sensitivity and neuronal cell death, and alters glial responses following spinal cord injury in rats

“…These results are consistent with spinal cord injured patients in clinical settings. NP patients develop both early-onset At-Level and late-onset Below-Level allodynia/hyperalgesia 5, 7, 8, 31, 41, 42 . Although changes at the spinal and the supraspinal level have been correlated with the development of these two distinct pain phenotypes, the exact underlying mechanism remains unclear 5, 43-45 .…”