Blogs | Michele Curatolo

About my blogs

I discuss topics related to pain management in an accessible way for anyone who wants to know more about this fascinating and poorly understood area of medicine, including healthcare professionals, patients, and students.
My purpose is solely educational and non-profit. While I aim to make the best use of the available scientific evidence, the content of my blogs primarily reflects my personal opinion.

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Epidural steroids: Long-term improvement, but ...

Epidural steroid injections in older adults: study with 2-years follow-up shows that patients improve, but unlikely due to the injection.

Michele Curatolo

Jul 20, 20224 min read

Acute back pain after osteoporotic fractures: Which medication?

Acute back pain after osteoporotic vertebral fractures is a public health issue. Choosing a medication that limits harm is challenging.

Michele Curatolo

Jul 6, 20222 min read

Neck pain and headache: Can stem from the C1-2 joint

Pain at the upper neck and headache can stem from the C1-2 joint. Steroid injection or surgery can be effective

Michele Curatolo

Jun 22, 20222 min read

Explaining "pain sensitization" to patients

Sensitization of neural pathways is a crucial determinant of chronic pain, and has treatment consequences. How to explain this to patients?

Michele Curatolo

Jun 8, 20223 min read

The huge gap between discoveries and availability of effective pain medications

A new research pathway is proposed to translate discoveries of pharmacological targets into effective treatments of pain.

Michele Curatolo

May 25, 20223 min read

Prognostic nerve blocks: meaningful or meaningless?

Prognostic nerve blocks to predict the effect of a subsequent treatment may be meaningful or not, depending on the nature of the procedure.

Michele Curatolo

May 12, 20224 min read

Improve your sleep, mood and physical function, and you may have less pain

In chronic pain, improvement in sleep, psychological and physical functioning may precede reduction in pain.

Michele Curatolo

Apr 27, 20222 min read

Adding a procedure to current treatment of chronic pain

A recent study used a pragmatic approach to demonstrate that adding a hip injection to current treatment improves pain for 6 months.

Michele Curatolo

Apr 13, 20223 min read

Exercise for chronic pain: when patients and health care professionals are not on the same page

Many patients with chronic pain decline therapeutic exercise because it increases pain. Is pain relief the right treatment goal?

Michele Curatolo

Apr 6, 20223 min read

The confusion around "diagnostic" nerve blocks for chronic pain

A patient becomes pain-free after anesthetizing a nerve: does it tell us where the pain comes from?

Michele Curatolo

Mar 23, 20224 min read

Better nutrition, less pain: Turn your pantry into a potent tool for better health and less pain

"You change your body chemistry each time you eat". Evidence for associations between diet and pain are growing.

Heather Tick

Mar 15, 20224 min read

Therapeutic nerve blocks for chronic pain: An unexplored potential

Placebo-controlled studies are unsuited to study therapeutic nerve blocks for chronic pain. More feasible research models are available.

Michele Curatolo

Mar 4, 20224 min read

What does local tenderness say about the origin of pain?

Tenderness evoked by pressure is typically interpreted as a sign of injury causing pain. However, it is of very limited diagnostic value.

Michele Curatolo

Feb 23, 20223 min read

Pain from multiple body areas: when arithmetics doesn't work

Pain from multiple body sites is frequently highly disabling. 1+1+1 is more than 3. Why, and what can we do?

Michele Curatolo

Feb 9, 20222 min read

How blood and urine metabolites could help understand chronic pain

We need to understand better chronic pain at individual level. The study of metabolites (metabolomics) is a promising perspective.

Michele Curatolo

Feb 2, 20223 min read

Why we shouldn't care much about x-ray and MRI for back pain

X-ray and MRI for back pain are over-valued. Frequently, they do not contribute to the diagnosis and may mislead treatment.

Michele Curatolo

Jan 26, 20223 min read

Is psychosocial distress a contraindication to pain procedures?

The challenges of considering procedures for chronic pain in patients with psychosocial distress.

Michele Curatolo

Jan 19, 20223 min read

Is "chronic pain" a diagnosis? Yes and no.

We need to translate the complexity and heterogeneity of chronic pain into meaningful diagnoses.

Michele Curatolo

Jan 11, 20223 min read

Why would an anesthetic nerve injection produce long-term pain relief?

Local anesthetics have a short duration of action, so why would they work in chronic pain?

Michele Curatolo

Jan 5, 20224 min read

Opioid escalation after surgery in patients with opioid use disorder

Definition According to the American Psychiatric Association, opioid use disorder is a condition in which there is uncontrolled use of...

Michele Curatolo

Dec 29, 20213 min read

About my blogs

To know about new blogs, you can subscribe here --> Your data will not be shared

Epidural steroids: Long-term improvement, but ...

Acute back pain after osteoporotic fractures: Which medication?

Neck pain and headache: Can stem from the C1-2 joint

Explaining "pain sensitization" to patients

The huge gap between discoveries and availability of effective pain medications

Prognostic nerve blocks: meaningful or meaningless?

Improve your sleep, mood and physical function, and you may have less pain

Adding a procedure to current treatment of chronic pain

Exercise for chronic pain: when patients and health care professionals are not on the same page

The confusion around "diagnostic" nerve blocks for chronic pain

Better nutrition, less pain: Turn your pantry into a potent tool for better health and less pain

Therapeutic nerve blocks for chronic pain: An unexplored potential

What does local tenderness say about the origin of pain?

Pain from multiple body areas: when arithmetics doesn't work

How blood and urine metabolites could help understand chronic pain

Why we shouldn't care much about x-ray and MRI for back pain

Is psychosocial distress a contraindication to pain procedures?

Is "chronic pain" a diagnosis? Yes and no.

Why would an anesthetic nerve injection produce long-term pain relief?

Opioid escalation after surgery in patients with opioid use disorder

To know about new blogs, you can subscribe here -->
Your data will not be shared