The idea of pricking your body with needles in order to relieve pain seems nothing if not counterintuitive, but thousands of acupuncture patients swear the treatments are effective in addressing pain of all kinds.
Pain
Suffer from Migraines? FDA Says Try Botox Injections
It began as an odd observation among plastic surgery patients, and ended up as an FDA approved drug — on Friday, the agency green-lighted the use of Botox, a popular wrinkle-reducing procedure, to control migraines.
Forget Pain Pills, Fall in Love Instead
Do you believe that love conquers all? If you do, you probably won’t be surprised by the following study. It turns out that being in love can actually dull pain perception. What’s more, it works in a different way that painkillers do.
Acupuncture: A 2,000-year tradition of placebo effect?
Acupuncture has been — how shall we say? — one of the less ridiculed techniques of alternative medicine, at least in recent years. A body of evidence shows that it does indeed relieve pain, for many conditions. But a study released today suggests that acupuncture probably only works because patients believe that it will — and it’s the …
Asthma and Tylenol: How strong is the evidence?
Yet another new study — this one is in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine — is showing a link between asthma and acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. Researchers have found that, among 320,000 kids in 50 countries, 13- and 14-year-olds who take acetaminophen are more than twice as likely to have …
Menstrual pain can re-shape the brain
It’s a common gag that women don’t think quite the same they get their period. But according to neuroscientists in Taiwan, in some women menstruation may change the very structure of the brain.
In an MRI study of 32 women who suffer menstrual cramps and 32 similar women without pain — with members of the two groups matched on age and …
Why some women hobble without heels?
Women who routinely wear high heels may feel pain when they don flats because regularly walking around with their heels elevated can significantly change leg muscle structure — causing the calf muscles to shorten and tendons to stiffen — according to a study published online today in The Journal of Experimental Biology.
For the
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Report: fetus cannot feel pain before 24 weeks
A new report from the U.K.’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) concludes that, before 24 weeks, nerve endings in the brains of fetuses aren’t sufficiently developed to experience pain. The findings, based on a review of recent studies examining fetal development and capacity for pain, undermine the argument for a
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When tots need shots, a dose of sugar to dull the pain
When given a small amount of sugar beforehand, babies are less likely to cry when receiving injections, according to new research published in the May 12 issue of the Archives of Disease in Childhood. A team of researchers from Canada, Australia and Brazil reviewed 14 studies examining how a boost of sugar affected pain experienced by
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Study: Restless Leg Syndrome runs in the family
A new study from Canadian researchers contributes to evidence suggesting that Restless Leg Syndrome — the condition characterized by extreme discomfort in the legs when sitting or lying down — is hereditary. Researchers studied 671 people diagnosed with restless leg syndrome, and then asked their family members to participate in
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Spicy research: peppers may help burn calories
Peppers are having a big week. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Center for Human Nutrition say that preliminary findings from a small study suggest that the chemical that gives spicy peppers their kick, capsaicin, may not only make you sweat when digging in to a hot dish, but may actually prompt your body to
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Not coping with stress may increase teeth-grinding
People who are stressed are more likely to grind their teeth in their sleep—clenching, and working their jaws throughout the night, slowly wearing teeth smooth or even chipping them, and awakening with headaches and muscle tension. Yet, according to new research published last week in the journal, it’s not solely feeling stressed, but
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Migraine treatment with a magnetic pulse
Administering a small magnetic pulse to the back of the head may be an effective, and drug-free, method for combating migraine pain, according to new research published online this week, and in the April issue of the journal Lancet Neurology. Previous research has suggested that this single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (sTMS)
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