Opioid neurotransmitters are located in many areas of the body, including the brain, spine and gut.
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Unlike opioid drugs like morphine and fentanyl that travel throughout the body, the opioids your body produces are released in small quantities to specific locations.
The most active participants had the highest pain tolerance overall.
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We have all experienced pain becoming more unbearable at night. The absence of stimuli and the influence of circadian rhythms could explain this phenomenon.
Researchers are working on untangling the neural circuitry of chronic and acute pain.
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Pain has long been subjectively measured, leading to frustrations for patients and doctors alike. Identifying neural biomarkers of pain could improve diagnosis and lead to better treatments of chronic pain conditions.
‘Sensitisation’ can affect anyone, but some people may be more prone to it than others due to genetic factors, environmental factors or previous experiences.
Untreated, endometriosis may lead to a range of health problems.
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New research shows the way a person with chronic pain responds to limitations to the activities or goals they value can impact their mental wellbeing – even more so than their pain levels.
A Jacobite broadside depicting the execution of lords Kilmarnock and Balmerino at Tower Hill in London.
National Library of Scotland
Learning about the history of public executions offers insight into our contemporary appetite for – and apathy towards – the suffering of others.
Even though chronic pain is recognized by scientists as a disease in its own right, it remains largely under-recognized, under-diagnosed and, above all, subject to many prejudices.
(Shutterstock)
Although chronic pain is recognized by scientists as a disease in its own right, it remains largely under-recognized, under-diagnosed and, above all, associated with numerous prejudices.
Many people use cannabis to manage pain.
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Surgery is one option to treat endometriosis. Here’s what’s involved.
The cannabis plant produces both THC – the psychoactive component in marijuana – and the compound commonly known as CBD, which does not lead to a ‘high.’
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Everyday bumps and scrapes are critical learning experiences for young children, and can influence how they interpret and respond to pain or injuries in the future.
A playground bench is colorfully decorated at the new Sandy Hook Elementary School, which replaced the one torn down after a gunman killed 20 first graders and six educators in 2012.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
An anthropologist explains the power of purification rituals, such as bringing down a building following a tragic occurrence in it, and why they help reduce our anxieties.
Because of stigma and deeply rooted implicit bias, people who suffer chronic and unexplained pains are often characterized as complainers, malingerers and drug-seekers.
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Psychosocial and economic stressors can affect health, but neither our doctors nor our health-care system have the tools to integrate these factors into diagnoses or care. Play offers an alternative.
New national standards aim to change doctors’ prescribing habits for hospital patients with pain when they’re discharged home. But clinicians also need to ensure patients’ pain is well managed.
Health claims around CBD grew after the FDA approved a drug containing CBD to treat seizures from two rare forms of epilepsy.
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Recent evidence suggests it’s normal for young, healthy and active children to have flexible flat feet. And these flat feet will get less flat over time.
Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut School of Nursing; Assistant Director, UCONN Center for Advancement in Managing Pain, University of Connecticut