“The results indicate that the strengthening intervention was successful in reducing pain, which corresponded to improved mechanics,” said Dierks, associate professor of physical therapy in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. “The leg was going through more motion, suggesting that the (pain) guarding mechanism was reduced, and coordination or control of many of these peak or maximum angles in the leg were improved in that they were getting closer to occurring at the same time.”

Only in recent years have researchers begun studying the hips as a possible contributor to patellofemoral pain (PFP).

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June 29, 2011 — More than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain at a cost of around $600 billion a year in medical treatments and lost productivity, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

An IOM committee commissioned by Congress concluded that pain is not optimally managed in the U.S. and that effective treatment of chronic pain will require a coordinated national effort to transform how the public, policy makers, and health care providers view the condition.

The report included recommendations for achieving what the committee referred to as a “cultural transformation” in how Americans understand and approach pain management and prevention.

“We see that for many patients chronic pain becomes a disease in its own right,” committee chair Phillip Pizzo, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine, said at a Wednesday news briefing.

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WASHINGTON A group of federal health experts narrowly voted to expand approval of a best-selling antidepressant on Thursday, though panelists disagreed over which types of pain the pill effectively treats.

The Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to broaden approval of Elli Lilly & Co.’s Cymbalta to treat chronic pain, a major expansion of a drug already used by 15 million U.S. patients.

An FDA panel of outside physicians voted 8-6 in favor of the broader indication, though they separately ruled that the drug did not appear effective for arthritis-related pain.

The FDA gives weight to the panel’s recommendations but is not required to follow them.

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