Patients Response to Interventional Care for Chronic Pain Study (PRICS): A Cross-Sectional Survey of Community-Based Pain Clinics in Ontario, Canada.

Background: Non-image guided injection treatments ("nerve blocks") are commonly provided in community pain clinics in Ontario for chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) but remain controversial.

Aim: We explored patients' perspectives of nerve blocks for CNCP.

Methods: We administered a 33-item cross-sectional survey to patients living with CNCP pain attending four community-based pain clinics in Ontario, Canada.

An N-of-1 Feasibility Study of Homeopathic Treatment for Fatigue in Patients Receiving Chemotherapy.

Background: Cancer-related fatigue has been described as a subjective feeling of physical, emotional, and/or cognitive tiredness. Homeopathy has been widely used to treat side effects of chemotherapy. The n-of-1 design is a single-patient trial method to study a clinical condition that is either short lived and reversible or is chronic and stable.

Chiropractic care in asthma and allergy.

Objective: To provide a brief overview of the current state of evidence for chiropractic care, specifically in the management of asthma and to a lesser extent allergy.

Data Sources: A search of MEDLINE for English-language articles published between January 1966 and July 2002 was conducted using the keywords asthma, allergy, manual therapy, physical therapy techniques, chiropractic, physical therapy (specialty), physiotherapy, massage, and massage therapy. A hand search of the primary chiropractic and osteopathic literature on the treatment of asthma was performed, and proceedings from a recent research symposium on spinal manipulation were included.

Ethical dimensions in the borderland between conventional and complementary/alternative medicine.

Consumer enthusiasm for complementary and alternative medicine presents complex challenges for conventional Western biomedically dominated health care systems and for those who practice within them. In particular, this trend forces new ethical dilemmas related to how we create consensus about the nature of ethical clinical practice and what constitutes evidence sufficient for public health policy. In this paper, we examine the historical context into which complementary and alternative medicine has been introduced, and consider the ethical and scientific challenges with which it confronts mainstream health systems.