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- For Pain Patients and Professionals
Neuropathic pain (NP) after spinal cord injury (SCI) exacerbates disability, decreases quality of life (QOL) and is often refractory to available therapies. Patients report willingness to trade potential recovery of strength, bowel, bladder, or sexual function for pain relief. One proposed mechanism causing NP is up-regulation of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV 1) proteins in uninjured C fibers and dorsal root ganglia causing neuronal excitability. Recent studies have found up-regulation of TRPV 1 proteins after SCI.