This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Epstein, B. Articles by Childers, M.K. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Epstein, B. Articles by Childers, M.K. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Use of Gabapentin for Neuropathic and Musculoskeletal Pain: A Case Series

Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Missouri Rehabilitation Center, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri

M.K. Childers, DO

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rusk Rehabilitation Center, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri

Objective : To describe the clinical response to gabapentin in the treatment of neuro pathic and musculoskeletal pain and to determine if a correlation exists between dose and pain response in a variety of painful disorders. To our knowledge, this is the first report of gabapentin used for neuropathic pain from carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), thoracic outlet syndrome, plexopathies, and femoral neuropathy; and musculoskeletal pain from osteoarthritis, low back pain (LBP), tension headaches, and rotator cuff tears.

Methods: A verbal pain intensity scale of 0 to 10 was used on 29 patients with neuropathic and/or musculoskeletal pain. Spearman rank correlation was used to test for a relationship between gabapentin dose and pain reduction. There were 19 males and 10 females; ages ranged from 20 to 76 years with a mean age of 47.

Results : At least a 30 percent reduction in pain was reported by 25 of 29 pa tients. Gabapentin was tolerated well with few side effects.

Conclusion: This case series suggests that gabapentin is beneficial in the treat ment of neuropathic and musculoskeletal pain. Double-blind, placebo-controlled stud ies appear to be warranted to investigate the use of gabapentin in musculoskeletal pain. Key Words: Gabapentin (GBP)—Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs)—Pain—Reflex sym pathetic dystrophy (RSD)—Dejerine-Roussy syndrome (DRS)—Spinal cord injury (SCI)

Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, Vol. 12, No. 2, 81-85 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/154596839801200206


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?