UAB to study link between sleep and pain in knee osteoarthritis
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) want to know more about the relationship between sleep and pain.
“It certainly makes sense that pain can interfere with a good night’s sleep, but there is growing evidence that poor sleep can itself lead to an increase in pain,” said Megan Ruiter, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in UAB’s Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology. “Understanding this relationship could open up new avenues in pain management through the treatment of sleep disorders.”
Ruiter is studying the sleep and pain relationship among patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Osteoarthritis is a chronic joint disease affecting mainly the hands, knees, hips and spine. Pain from this disease is common, though the experience of the pain can widely vary among patients, regardless of how much the disease has progressed.
Full story of sleep and osteoarthritis at UAB.edu
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