Researchers were a bit surprised recently to find that joint pain and sleep apnea were not linked. A team from Australia recently published a study in Arthritis Care & Research indicating that they found no association between obstructive sleep apnea and joint pain…or between sleep apnea and daytime drowsiness.
Joint Pain and Sleep Apnea: No Association
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Corresponding author Joule Li told OTW, “We found a significant dose-response relationship between poor sleep quality and pain. Obstructive sleep apnea is a common disease that results in poor sleep, but surprisingly we did not find any association between sleep apnea and pain.”
According to the August 1, 2016 news release, the authors noted, “Additional studies are needed to determine whether the relationship between pain and sleep apnea is different depending on the cause of sleep apnea. Furthermore, the mechanisms behind the different relationship between pain and sleep apnea compared with that of pain and sleep quality remain unclear and should be investigated.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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