Research into the role of the brain in chronic pain
Qu. What do a rat, a fur coat, and a Santa mask have in common? Ans. Ethically dodgy science! ‘Little Albert’ was the victim of early 19th century psychology experimentation. At nine months of age he was given a white rat, and then frightened by a loud noise whenever he reached for it. Naturally, he came to fear white rats. Surprisingly, he … [Read more...]
Persistent pain, in conditions such as complex regional pain syndrome and chronic low back pain, is associated with cortical changes and altered tactile acuity.[2-4, 6, 7] Tactile acuity is thus considered a clinical signature of primary somatosensory representation[5] in these conditions and is increasingly being assessed in clinical practice to … [Read more...]
All those fabulous people who did Ride for Pain at your place! have completed their rides and those who could sent their photos and movies in. Click on the gallery pics and they get bigger. In no particular order here are.... The Norse Vikings - Norway httpv://youtu.be/w0656e_4FRAMore pics here and for you keenies click on the … [Read more...]
There is no shortage of clinical guidelines for CRPS. Since 2010 we have had guidelines from the Netherlands, from the UK and in the last few months from the USA. Guidelines are always an interesting beast. They usually involve an exercise in evidence synthesis, consideration by a panel of experts, many of whom are (and I shudder to use the term) … [Read more...]
Many of you may be aware of the process for making left/right judgments of hands. For those who aren’t, I’ll try to sum it up in brief. When trying to identify whether a picture of a hand is a left hand or a right, it’s thought that we access the cortical maps of our hands. The process is as follows; we pick a hand that we subconsciously … [Read more...]
On what looks like a very fresh Danish weekend, some fearsome warriors put on their Ride for Pain jerseys and took on the elements. Watch the day unfold in the latest Danish entry for the Cannes short-film awards, in the 'Raising awareness of the world's most burdensome health issue' category. httpv://youtu.be/gYSV4Ai-zSg … [Read more...]
This commentary was first published in the Journal of Pain. We thought it was worthwhile to publish it again here:Almost everyone suffers acute pain. Why do most recover, but an unfortunate few descend a downward spiral of social, personal and economic disadvantage? One hypothesis that has been interrogated for two decades is the fear … [Read more...]
Sunday April 7th saw hundreds of cyclists take to the River or the Hills on an absolutely glorious Adelaide autumn day. The mercury nudged 30C and the spirits were even higher. Thanks to WorkCoverSA and, of course the University of South Australia, it was another very successful event. Over 250 cyclists took on the whole 100km and 100 of those … [Read more...]
Here, Gian Domenico Alessandro Magnifico Fantistico Iannetti and Flavia Eleganta Bellisima Mancini talk us through pain at your fingertips. They did a very groovy experiment that, for the first time, uncovered the pattern of receptive fields for nociception at the finger tips. Their results are remarkable insofar as they show that what we have long … [Read more...]
Continued from previous post... All is not lost, however. There is an emerging body of literature that suggests that we can change the way people understand their pain. We can reconceptualize pain in a way that makes clear the distinction between tissue damage, nociception and pain. The bulk of the work in this area is guided by a model that … [Read more...]
A frank approach to interpersonal communication brings with it some challenges, but having to dig oneself out of a hole, created by strategically avoiding the truth, is not one of them. This frank approach is well suited to science – the scientific process requires us to pursue and report the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We … [Read more...]
It is unsurprising that there are few-to-no impressively effective treatments for chronic non-specific low back pain. The clue is in the “diagnostic” label. Non-specific low back pain represents the vast majority of cases for whom our traditional diagnoses don’t explain a great deal. If we can’t put our finger on what is causing it, we are … [Read more...]
Most BiM readers will be familiar with a body of research indicating that chronic pain is associated with apparent structural changes in the brain. We’ve discussed this issue here at length (see here and here). These findings, principally of reductions in grey matter density across a smattering of brain regions, have led researchers, myself … [Read more...]
Two foods I love eating regularly (and that’s probably not a good thing for the latter) are tuna and ice cream. Thankfully, I have a firm grasp of the concept that some things just weren’t made for mixing.You might think this is a funny way to start a blog post on CRPS… but I promise you the Adelaide heat hasn’t fried my brain. I … [Read more...]
GET MOVING FOR CHRONIC PAIN RESEARCH! In conjunction with UniSA's Ride for Pain, and PainAdelaide 2013, we are giving YOU ALL the opportunity to GET INVOLVED. If you can’t make it to Adelaide in April, Ride for Pain anyway, by taking part in Ride for Pain at your place! Simply register here. It will cost you AUD$70. We will send you your … [Read more...]
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