Patellofemoral Pain, Sleep For Pain, and Physical Disuse

The Chiropractic Forward Podcast: Evidence-based Chiropractic Advocacy

CF 193: Patellofemoral Pain, Sleep For Pain, and Physical Disuse Today we’re going to talk about patellofemoral pain, sleep for pain, and physical disuse But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music

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OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are making evidence-based chiropractic fun, profitable, and accessible while we make you and your patients better all the way around. We’re the fun kind of research. Not the stuffy, high-brow kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers. I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast. If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do.

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You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #193 Now if you missed last week’s episode , we talked about To Do lists, frailty, and we talked about pain and lost work days. Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class.

On the personal end of things…..

This one will be a bit short today. My time will loosen up eventually and I’ll be able to dive deeper into some of the things going on around the office that you may relate to. But today ain’t that day. If you listened last week, you know that I believe in a To Do list and I believe in making it the priority if you’re going to be productive and if you ever hope to complete your epic saga of world domination. I’m stepping on the gas on the AMA Impairment Rating course because the national conference in Chicago is in October. That’s not too far off so it’s time to get down to bidniz. I’m elbows deep researching and generating a medical weight loss protocol for my clinic. Not only that, but I’m researching and creating a protocol for PRP Hair Restoration.

It’s pretty dang cool and the research has shown how effective it is. But, the main reason I need to be a bit brief this morning is that today is our first day and onboarding of our Parker University intern. He’ll be with us through the end of November so he gets plenty of time to find all of my screw-ups. Admit it. You don’t do everything perfectly. Research tells us that we can’t adjust as precisely as we were taught. Yet, in our documentation, we’re supposed to notate the very specific levels of adjustment. We all must reconcile these things within our way of functioning.

Academia is one thing. Real-life is quite another. For example, the college dinged my records when I sent them a sample for auditing purposes. One of their reasons was that on a PI, I didn’t provide a full robust diagnosis on the first visit. Well, what they didn’t ask me was why. The reason being that most PIs have been nowhere prior to showing up at our clinics. They’ve not had x-rays. They had traumatic onset so, with regards to Choosing Wisely, we should be getting x-rays. What if I did an exam right away without imaging just because academia says I need that dx on day one? I’ve had a fractured neck in my office before. We didn’t have a clue until the Xrays. What if I go pushing, pulling, and tugging on a fractured Cervical vertebra? Nope…..not here academia. Ding those notes all you want but I’m going to put a generalized place keeping dx like cervicalgia on the file until the x-rays come back clear. Then I’ll do the exam safely. Then I’ll assess a more appropriate diagnosis. So there! Now, how to responsibly teach these things to an intern while still keeping within academic teachings and parameters? We shall see. Let the adventure begin.

Item #1

This first one this week is called, “Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment Versus Exercise Program in Runners With Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial” by Zago et. al. (Zago J 2020) and published in the Journal of Sports Rehabilitation on in December of 2020 and that’s hot because I said it’s hot…

Why They Did It

The authors say that the effects of an exercise program for the treatment of patellofemoral pain syndrome are well known. However, the effects of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) are unclear.

Their objective was to evaluate the effects of OMT versus exercise on knee pain, functionality, plantar pressure in middle foot (PPMF), posterior thigh flexibility (PTF), and range of motion of hip extension in runners with patellofemoral pain syndrome.

How They Did It

• It was a randomized controlled trial
• It was performed in a human performance laboratory
• There was a total of 82 runners with patellofemoral pain syndrome that participated
• The participants were randomized into 3 groups: OMT, EP, and control group.
• The OMT group received joint manipulation and myofascial release in the lumbar spine, hip, sacroiliac joint, knee, and ankle regions.
• The EP group performed specific exercises for lower limbs. The control group received no intervention.
• The main evaluations were pain through the VAS, functionality through the Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale, dynamic knee valgus through the step-down test, PPMF through static baropodometry, PTF through the sit and reach test, and range of motion through fleximetry.
• The evaluations were performed before the interventions, after the 6 interventions, and at 30-day follow-up.

What They Found

• There was a significant pain decrease in the OMT and EP groups when compared with the control group.
• OMT group showed increased functionality, decreased plantar pressure in middle foot, and increased posterior thigh flexibility. The range of motion for hip extension increased only in the EP group.

Wrap It Up

Both OMT and EP are effective in treating runners with patellofemoral pain syndrome.

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Item #2

This second item is called, “Machine learning suggests sleep as a core factor in chronic pain” by Miettinen et al. (Miettinen T 2021) and published in Pain in January of 2021 and it sizzles…

Why They Did It

The authors say that patients with chronic pain have complex pain profiles and associated problems. Subgroup analysis can help identify key problems.

How They Did It

They used a data-based approach to define pain phenotypes and their most relevant associated problems There were 320 patients in the study undergoing tertiary pain management. They identified 3 patient phenotype clusters

Wrap It Up

If I try to get into the particulars of this paper, most of which I don’t understand and I’m relatively sure 90% of the rest don’t understand either if I get into it, our eyes will gloss over and we’ll question our life choices. Instead, we’re going to skip to the important part of the conclusion. They say, “Machine learning suggested sleep problems as key factors in the most difficult pain presentations, therefore deserving priority in the treatment of chronic pain.” We have talked about it here before but, if you are not lining your chronic pain patient out with some very solid sleep recommendations, you’re not sign everything you can to help them. It’s clear that getting good sleep is key to getting on top of chronic pain. I commonly recommend a book to my chronic pain patients that says the same. It’s called ‘Back In Control’ by David Hanscum, MD. He’s a chronic pain sufferer but he’s also an orthopedic spinal surgeon so…..he’s no dummy walking around bumping into walls. Sleep is part of the process. So make sure you’re recommending it to your chronic pain patients.

Item #3

This last one has the longest name ever given to a research paper in the known history of mankind. It is, “Physical disuse contributes to widespread chronic mechanical hyperalgesia, tactile allodynia, and cold allodynia through neurogenic inflammation and spino-parabrachio-amygdaloid pathway activation” by Ohmichi et. al. (Ohmichi Y 2020)and published in Pain in August of 2020 and that’s just hot enough people! And can I just say that with a title this long, this Ohmichi had to of been trying to compensate? You know, like when a small person buys a huge truck. Something like that. I feel like these folks could work on their naming process a bit. That’s all I’m saying.

Why They Did It

Physical disuse could lead to a state of chronic pain typified by complex regional pain syndrome type I due to fear of pain through movement (kinesiophobia) or inappropriate resting procedures. However, the mechanisms by which physical disuse is associated with acute/chronic pain and other pathological signs remain unresolved. We have previously reported that inflammatory signs, contractures, disuse muscle atrophy, spontaneous pain-like behaviors, and chronic widespread mechanical hyperalgesia based on central plasticity occurred after 2 weeks of cast immobilization in chronic post-cast pain (CPCP) rat model.

Wrap It Up

As with the last paper we discussed, this one really gets into the weeds and my goal here is to make research more palatable so we’re going to go to the conclusion because that’s what really matters the most here. They conclude that physical disuse contributes to dystrophy-like changes, spontaneous pain-like behavior, and chronic widespread pathological pain-like behaviors in chronic post-cast pain rats after 2 weeks of cast immobilization. Once upon a time, they’d tell pain sufferers to go home and get some rest. Take the pain killers and muscle relaxers and ‘ride it out’. Now, people will have laminectomies and they’ll be walking the hospital hallways the next day. Movement is healing. As Liebenson says, ‘motion is the lotion for the joints’. Those not moving are those that are not healing. Be active if you want to stay active. Alright, that’s it. Keep on keepin’ on. Keep changing our profession from your corner of the world. The world needs evidence-based, patient-centered practitioners driving the bus so get active, get involved, and make it happen. Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week.

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The Message

I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots. When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few. It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient. And, if the patient treats preventatively after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health!

Key Point:

At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints…. That’s Chiropractic!

Contact

Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show and tell us your suggestions for future episodes. Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on podcast platforms. We know how this works by now. If you value something, you have to share it, interact with it, review it, talk about it from time to time, and actively hit a few buttons to support it here and there when asked. It really does make a big difference.

Connect

We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.

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About the Author & Host Dr. Jeff Williams – Fellow of the International Academy of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger

Bibliography

• Miettinen T, M. P., Hagelberg N, Mustola S, Kalso E, Lötsch J, (2021). “Machine learning suggests sleep as a core factor in chronic pain.” Pain 162(1): 109-123.
• Ohmichi Y, O. M., Tashima R, Osuka K, Fukushige K, Kanikowska D, Fukazawa Y, Yawo H, Tsuda M, Naito M, Nakano T (2020). “Physical disuse contributes to widespread chronic mechanical hyperalgesia, tactile allodynia, and cold allodynia through neurogenic inflammation and spino-parabrachio-amygdaloid pathway activation.” Pain 161(8): 1808-1823.
• Zago J, A. F., Rondinel T, Matheus JP, (2020). “Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment Versus Exercise Program in Runners With Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” J Spot Rehabil 30(4): 609-618.

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