Opioid use — even short term — can lead to addiction and, too often, overdose. Find out how short-term pain relief leads to life-threatening problems. Authored by Mayo Clinical Staff Anyone who takes opioids is at risk of developing addiction. Your personal history and the length of time you use […]

Opioid misuse and addiction – including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl – present a serious national crisis that affects our healthcare system, public health, and social and economic welfare. In the United States alone, 136 people die every day from an opioid overdose according to […]

Evidence for thermal therapy application as primary or adjunctive headache relief. Physicians have many treatments available for the headache sufferer. Most treatment plans include medication and/or lifestyle modifications, but for multiple reasons, many patients need or desire a safe, self-administered, simple, drug-free alternative for their headache relief. Read the Whitepaper […]

Published by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The U.S. economic cost of opioid use disorder ($471 billion) and fatal opioid overdose ($550 billion) during 2017 totaled $1,021 billion. In the 39 jurisdictions studied, combined costs of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose varied from $985 million in Wyoming […]

The application of heat and cold is usually a nursing responsibly. These applications can be quite effective when used properly but can cause injury and discomfort when principles for their use are not followed. The nurse must have knowledge of the physiologic principles of the effective use of heat and […]

The effects of cold therapy in the postoperative management of pain in patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction Authors: B T Cohn, R I Draeger, and D W Jackson This prospective study assessed 54 consecutive arthroscopically assisted ACL reconstructions for the amount of postoperative pain relief provided by cold therapy, […]

States are categorized from highest rate to lowest rate. Although adjusted for differences in age-distribution and population size, rankings by state do not take into account other state specific population characteristics that may affect the level of mortality. When the number of deaths is small, rankings by state may be […]

Authors: Ramsin Benyamin, Andrea M Trescot, Sukdeb Datta, Ricardo Buenaventura, Rajive Adlaka, Nalini Sehgal, Scott E Glaser, and Ricardo Vallejo Medications which bind to opioid receptors are increasingly being prescribed for the treatment of multiple and diverse chronic painful conditions. Their use for acute pain or terminal pain is well […]

The number of drug overdose deaths increased by nearly 5% from 2018 to 2019 and has quadrupled since 19991. Over 70% of the 70,630 deaths in 2019 involved an opioid. From 2018 to 2019, there were significant changes in opioid-involved death rates: Opioid-involved death rates increased by over 6%. Prescription […]

Treating Pain with Heat and Cold Authors: Ana Gotter, Medically reviewed by Judith Marcin, M.D. We treat everything from arthritis to pulled muscles to inflammation with ice packs or heating pads. Treating pain with hot and cold can be extremely effective for a number of different conditions and injuries, and […]