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Throwing arm injuries are on the rise in Little League and other youth baseball programs. After these injuries occur, many players are out for the season; others require surgery and must refrain from play for an even longer duration; still others sustain injuries so severe that they cause permanent damage and are unable to continue playing baseball. Three new studies address this critical issue, each offering new solutions to help prevent these injuries.

Researchers in the UK have made a new advance in understanding how the body fights certain types of cancer and other disease such as Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Two new studies focus on the dramatic rise of pediatric sports injuries in recent years. However, despite this alarming trend, awareness, education, warning signs and early treatment can make a significant difference and help keep these athletes in the game, according to the study experts.

Total knee replacement (TKR) successfully relieves pain and improves function in patients with advanced knee arthritis, according to a new study.

Approximately 21 million visits were made to physicians’ offices due to back problems in 2006. While countless adults experience back pain and stiffness, many suffer from serious spine and back conditions — including injury, herniated discs and the deterioration of the vertebrae. Three new studies detail advances in back care and treatment options for specific back and spine conditions.

Total knee arthroplasty patients may be able to participate in high-impact sports without increasing risk of early implant failure, according to a new study.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia significantly improved sleep for patients with chronic neck or back pain and also reduced the extent to which pain interfered with their daily functioning, according to a new study.

Contrary to previous hypotheses, the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs does not appear associated with risk of squamous cell skin cancer, according to a new article.

The genetic biomarkers of pancreatic cancer are present in human saliva, researchers report. The finding could lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment of this most lethal of human cancers. Early results suggest salivary diagnostics may prove superior to blood tests for the purpose of early detection.

Chronic migraine sufferers tend to be in poorer general health, less well off, and more depressed than those with episodic migraine, reveals new research.

A preliminary study suggests the same type of botulinum injection used for cosmetic purposes may be associated with reduced frequency of migraine headaches that are described as crushing, vicelike or eye-popping (ocular), but not pain that is experienced as a buildup of pressure inside the head, according to a new article.

Researchers in California have found “reasonable evidence that cannabis is a promising treatment” for some specific, pain-related medical conditions.

Humans and animals are able to perceive even the slightest vibration and touch of the skin. Mechanosensitive ion channels play a crucial role in the mediation of these sensations. Researchers have now discovered that the presence of a protein filament causes the ion channels to open and shut like a tethered gate.

Many cancer patients in Europe are being denied access to adequate pain relief because of over-zealous regulations restricting the availability and accessibility of opioid-based drugs such as morphine, experts say.

Researchers are investigating new ways for developing a novel painkiller based on natural compounds found in the venom of scorpions. These compounds have gone through millions of years of evolution and some show high efficacy and specificity for certain components of the body with no side effects.

Researchers have successfully modeled CHIKV infection in cynomolgus macaques. Specifically, CHIKV infection in cynomolgus macaques was found to recapitulate the viral, clinical, and pathological features observed in CHIKV infected humans.

Lactose intolerance is a real and important clinical syndrome, but quantifying its public health burden is challenging. An NIH Consensus Development panel was convened this week to assess the available evidence on lactose intolerance and health across the age spectrum and across racial and ethnic groups.

Clinicians may use one of several approaches to deny patient requests for an inappropriate treatment while preserving the physician-patient relationship, according to a new report.

Around the time of menopause, studies have shown the threat for heart disease intensifies drastically and detecting cardiovascular disease in women is very difficult.

People can reduce their sensitivity to pain by thickening their brain, according to a new study. Researchers have made their discovery by comparing the gray matter thickness of Zen meditators and non-meditators. They found evidence that practicing the centuries-old discipline of Zen can reinforce a central brain region (anterior cingulate) that regulates pain.

A new study suggests that autoantibodies to fat binding proteins significantly increase in systemic lupus erythematosus patients with active disease.

A new integrative oncology program aim to address cancer patients’ needs from every angle through treatment that extends beyond medical therapies.

Simple urine tests for four proteins might be able to detect early kidney disease in people with lupus, researchers have found in an animal study.

A new study found that fluoxetine (Prozac) and citalopram (Celexa) treatment significantly inhibited disease progression of collagen-induced arthritis in mice. Researchers studied the anti-arthritic potential of these drugs, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors most commonly used to treat depression.

Hypnosis can help alleviate the pain and suffering experienced by women being treated for breast cancer, according to a new study.

Migraine headache affects many people and a number of different preventative strategies should be considered, according to a new article.

The anxiety that often accompanies a chronic illness can chip away at quality of life and make patients less likely to follow their treatment plan. But regular exercise can significantly reduce symptoms of anxiety, a new study shows.

A large academic medical center has found that a significant percentage of outpatient referrals they receive from primary care physicians for computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging studies are inappropriate (based upon evidence-based appropriateness criteria developed by a radiology benefits management company), according to a new study.

Smoking is already a known risk factor for age-related macular degeneration, cataract and thyroid eye disease. Now, the first study to specifically examine the impact of smoking on uveitis-inflammation of the eye’s middle layer of tissue-indicates that tobacco smoke likely plays a role in this serious eye disease, as well. In the United States about 10 percent of blindness is caused by uveitis.

The shoulder joint is the most mobile joint in the body and consequently one of the most commonly dislocated joints.

A survey of parents who had a child die of cancer found one in eight considered hastening their child’s death, a deliberation influenced by the amount of pain the child experienced during the last month of life, researchers report. The study suggests that many parents worry that their children will suffer from uncontrollable pain. The researchers say the findings underscore the importance of managing patients’ suffering and communicating with parents about pain management options.

Non-traditional therapies relieve pain among a wide range of hospitalized patients as much as 50 percent, according to a first-of-a-kind study. The study shows that an inpatient integrative medicine program can have a significant impact on pain in an environment where pain management continues to be a major challenge, and traditional medications can have negative consequences.

A new study demonstrates that acupuncture may be an effective therapy for joint pain and stiffness in breast cancer patients who are being treated with commonly used hormonal therapies.

People who are stressed by daily problems or trouble at work seem to be more likely to grind their teeth at night. Researchers studied the causes of “sleep bruxism,” gnashing teeth during the night, finding that it was especially common in those who try to cope with stress by escaping from difficult situations.

Worms are important source of immunomodulatory proteins that could be used in the development of new drugs for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A research group in Belgium investigated the therapeutic effect of worm-derived proteins on experimental colitis in mice. Treatment with worm proteins ameliorated motility disturbances during murine experimental colitis. This suggests that worm proteins have great potential to be used as therapeutic agents in IBD.

In an eye-opening editorial, a leading expert urges the medical community to use ultrasound instead of computed tomography as the first-line imaging test for better diagnosis capability in the evaluation of acute female pelvic and lower abdominal conditions.

Electromagnetic pulses significantly decrease pain and inflammation associated with osteoarthritis of the knee, according to new research. In the double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled study, 34 patients used a portable battery-operated device that emits a low-intensity pulsating electromagnetic frequency and experienced more than 40 percent pain relief on their first day.

Changes in patients’ self-rated quality of life after treatment for esophago-gastric cancer can predict the chances for long-term survival, according to new Swedish research.

Three critical recommendations from a national workshop have been released to address deep-vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, a growing public health problem estimated to affect nearly 1 million Americans each year.

In a commentary in JAMA, hospitalist Alec B. O’Connor calls for more stringent Federal guidelines governing the approval of potential new drugs. He says the FDA should require studies comparing the effectiveness and safety of a new drug to an established first-line drug when considering a drug for approval.

Patients with irritable bowel syndrome are at no greater risk of having polyps, colon cancer or inflammatory bowel diseases than healthy people undergoing colonoscopies, according to a new study.

Shoulder motion after rotator cuff surgery remains significantly different when compared to the patient’s opposite shoulder, according to researchers. In the study, researchers used X-rays providing a 3D view of motion of the arm bone in relation to the shoulder blade, to compared motion in the shoulders of 14 patients who had arthroscopic surgical repair of tendon tears and no symptoms in their other shoulders.

A new method of growing arteries could lead to a “biological bypass” — or a noninvasive way to treat coronary artery disease.

Children who have been abused psychologically, physically or sexually are more likely to suffer unexplained abdominal pain and nausea or vomiting than children who have not been abused, a new study concludes.

While physicians strive to set realistic expectations for patients undergoing knee and hip joint replacements, a new study reveals that doctor and patient expectations are sometimes not aligned.

It’s time to re-think how patients are selected for cardiac catheterization, say doctors, after reporting in a new study that the invasive procedure found no significant coronary artery disease in nearly 60 percent of chest pain patients with no prior heart disease.

Scientists in Australia have identified a new link between strong period pain experienced in adolescence and early adulthood and the risk of endometriosis.

Bad behavior in childhood is associated with long-term, chronic widespread pain in adult life, according to the findings of a study following nearly 20,000 people from birth in 1958 to the present day. The research found that children with severe behavior disturbances had approximately double the risk of chronic widespread pain by the time they reached the age of 45 than children who did not have behavior problems.

Millions of Americans with significant or chronic pain associated with their medical problems are being under-treated as physicians increasingly fail to provide comprehensive pain treatment — either due to inadequate training, personal biases or fear of prescription drug abuse.

Image-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA), a minimally invasive cancer treatment which can be performed in the outpatient setting, significantly reduced the level of pain experienced by cancer patients with bone (osseous) metastases, limiting the need for strong narcotic pain management, and supporting improved patient frame of mind, according to new results.