New and Emerging Therapies For Migraine

The standards of migraine therapy do have limitations. For some, it is adverse events or a lack of significant improvement. For others, it is medication overuse or inability to tolerate a delivery method or regimen. Advancements in headache therapies over the past decade have aimed not only to improve efficacy but also delivery and tolerability to ultimately improve patient satisfaction. These new approaches open options for clinicians treating patients with particularly refractory and difficult migraines. Emerging therapies include CGRP-receptor antagonists, CGRP antibodies, a 5-HT1F receptor agonist, and new deliveries for proven treatments in intranasal form and non-invasive neuromodulation.

Front. Pain Res., 06 September 2022
Sec. Headache
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpain.2022.873179

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a complex neurophysiological disorder, which can result in many long-term complications including changes in mobility, bowel and bladder function, cardiovascular function, and metabolism.

Non-pharmacological treatments are safer alternatives that can be specifically tailored to the individual and used in tandem with pharmacological therapies if needed. This review describes existing non-pharmacological therapies that have been used to treat SCI-induced pain in both preclinical models and clinical populations. 

Pain after SCI is a significant problem due to its prevalence and the difficulty to manage it. While pharmacological interventions can improve acute neuropathic and musculoskeletal SCI pain, efficacy is limited in treating acute visceral pain. Further, when any form of SCI pain becomes chronic it is even more difficult to treat. The use of non-pharmacological interventions to replace or compliment conventional medication-based treatment may improve patient neuropathic and musculoskeletal pain outcomes. However, there remains a paucity in the literature regarding nonpharmacological interventions specific to SCI-induced visceral pain and gastrointestinal/bladder disorders, limiting effective treatment development.

Front. Pain Res., 24 August 2022
Sec. Non-Pharmacological Treatment of Pain
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpain.2022.991736

According to Wikipedia, loss of muscle mass can be caused by immobility, aging, malnutrition, medications, injuries, or diseases that affect the musculoskeletal or nervous system. Muscle atrophy and muscle spams lead to muscle weakness and can cause disability. Muscle atrophy is defined by changes in the muscles consisting in shrinkage of myofibrils, changes in the types of fiber and myosin isoforms, and a net loss of cytoplasm, organelles, and an overall loss of protein. Muscle tissue is a highly specialized type of tissue called muscle fibers or myofibers because of the elongated shape they have and are made up of cells that have as their fundamental properties’ excitability and contractility. Myofibers are responsible for the force that the muscles generate, and muscle movement is based on the ability of muscle fibers to use the chemical energy obtained in metabolic processes.
Neuromuscular reeducation deals with retraining the brain and spinal cord in voluntary and reflex motor activities. The strength of contraction of a given muscle is determined by the following factors: anatomic and physiological status of the muscle fibers at the time of contraction; number and synchrony of the contracting fibers; number and frequency of nerve impulses reaching the muscle fibers; functional status of the neuromuscular junctions; and structural and functional condition of the tissues surrounding the muscle fibers, such as blood vessels and connective tissue.

Treating your patients with Electric cell Signaling Treatments (EcST) is a potent tool when used for muscle strength training, endurance training, reducing muscle spasticity, increase circulation, and motor reeducation. Any pain associated with muscle atrophy can be relieved during the treatments offering added clinical benefits to your patient’s recovery time and quality of life.