Project Type
independent
Project Lead Center
UAB Spinal Cord Injury Model System (UAB-SCIMS)
Project Start Date
11/14/2006
Project End Date
05/31/2011
Target Population(s)
Men and wome of all races, ages 19 - 65, who have had a spinal cord injury for at least one year and have chronic SCI-related pain.

Clinically we have observed that some patients diagnosed with spinal cord injury pain, particularly neuropathic pain, report less pain intensity when they quit smoking. It was therefore postulated that nicotine might affect the levels of pain intensity. The purpose of this project is to determine in a randomized, crossover placebo controlled fashion whether nicotine affects pain intensity for various subtypes of spinal cord injury pain.