Orthopedics This Week - 2018 | July 17, 2018 | Page 27

ORTHOPEDICS THIS WEEK
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 23 | JULY 17, 2018
pain worse—in some cases, things
actually got better.
Their work, “Changes Ii [sic] Pain
Intensity Following Discontinuation of
Long-Term Opioid Therapy for Chronic
Non-Cancer Pain,” appears in the June
13, 2018 edition of the journal Pain.
Washington State University (WSU)
researchers worked with colleagues
at the Veteran Affairs Portland Health
Care System and the Oregon Health &
Science University in an effort to help
medical practitioners find alternative
treatments to opioids.
Of all the participants, 87% were diag-
nosed with chronic musculoskeletal
pain, 6% with neuropathic pain, and
11% with headache pain, including
migraines.
The authors wrote, “Follow-up growth
mixture models identified four pain tra-
jectory classes characterized by the fol-
lowing post-discontinuation pain lev-
els: no pain, mild clinically-significant
pain, moderate clinically-significant
pain, and severe clinically-significant
pain.”
“Similar to the overall sample, pain
trajector ies in each of the four classes
were characterized by slight reductions
in pain over time, with patients in the
mild and moderate pain trajectory cat-
egories experiencing the greatest pain
reductions post-discontinuation.”
Co-author Sterling McPherson, Ph.D.,
associate professor and director for bio-
statistics and clinical trial design at the
WSU Elson F. Floyd College of Medi-
cine, told OTW, “Pain intensity follow-
ing discontinuation of long-term opioid
therapy does not, on average, worsen
for patients and many slightly improve,
particular for patients with mild-to-
moderate pain at the time of discon-
tinuation.”
“Clinicians might consider these find-
ings when discussing the risks and
benefits of long-term opioid therapy as
compared to other, non-opioid treat-
ments for chronic pain. Clinicians
should consider these findings when
discussing risks of opioid therapy and
potential benefits of opioid taper with
patients.”
“Going forward we will be collecting
additional data and qualitative inter-
views with patients over the next year
to try and determine why some patients
experience greater reductions in pain
than others after discontinuing long-
term opioid therapy.” — EH
PEOPLE
Andrews Receives
NATA President’s
Award
J
ames R. Andrews, M.D., medical
director for Andrews Institute for
Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine in
Gulf Breeze, Florida, recently received
the National Athletic Trainers’ Associa-
tion’s President’s Award during the asso-
ciation’s 69th Clinical Symposia & AT
Expo in New Orleans.
27
athletic trainers and the value they add
to healthcare.
“Over his decades of serving athletes,
both young and old, Dr. Andrews has
become known as not only a caring and
compassionate surgeon but, an innova-
tor and trailblazer, constantly striving
to improve the care he and his team are
able to provide to their patients. He val-
ues athletic trainers but he also stands
for what we as athletic trainers stand
for—excellent care for our patients,”
outgoing NATA President Scott Sailor,
EdD, ATC said during the awards pre-
sentation.
The NATA President’s Award began in
2016. Previous recipients include Brian
Hainline, M.D., NCAA chief medical
officer (2016), and Rick Burkholder,
MS, ATC, Kansas City Chiefs vice pres-
ident of sports medicine and perfor-
mance (2017).
Athletic trainers are health care profes-
sionals who specialize in the preven-
tion, diagnosis, treatment and rehabili-
tation of injuries and sport-related ill-
nesses. They prevent and treat chronic
musculoskeletal injuries from sports,
physical and occupational activity, and
provide immediate care for acute inju-
ries. NATA represents and supports
45,000 members of the athletic train-
ing profession. — TR
Under Andrews’ leader-
ship and reputation, Bap-
tist Health Care founded
Andrews Institute in 2007.
The President’s Award
recipient is chosen by the
National Athletic Train-
ers’ Association (NATA)
president for unwavering
leadership and support of
the athletic training profes-
sion. Andrews has always
been a strong supporter of
Dr. Andrews receives the President’s Award from the outgoing NATA
President Scott Sailor, EdD. / Courtesy of the National Athletic
Trainers’ Association
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