There is nothing like a good thinking session to kick off the new year. In their new paper, just published in Pain Medicine, the dulcet tones of A/Prof Milton Cohen and partners have been transformed to print in what is a very interesting critique of the theory of pain as a disease. Or, as they put it, 'pain-as-a-disease'. It really is a tricky … [Read more...]
VBM – voxel-based morphometry or very bad measurement?
January 22, 2013 by 3 Comments
Brain imaging technology has become a big player in the world of pain research in the last 2 decades. In more recent years voxel based morphometry (VBM), which allows us to look at structural changes in the brain (specifically neuronal matter density) has produced some eyebrow raising research in chronic pain.It is this technology that produced … [Read more...]
The Dark Side of La Mano, or Space-Temperature Interactions in CRPS
January 15, 2013 by 10 Comments
I was unsure about that title, but I figured it's holiday season and I am going to talk about work I did with two Italians, and I know there are some Pink Floyd fans out there. Somewhere. If you have never heard of Pink or Floyd, then go with the subtitle - Space - temperature interactions in CRPS. Earlier this year, Alberto Gallace, Charlie Spence … [Read more...]
A big hole in the control? Transcranial direct current stimulation blinding on trial
November 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
You may or may not have heard of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), but it is non-invasive method for stimulating the brain with low intensity electrical currents. Over the last decade or so there has been plenty of basic physiology research demonstrating that tDCS directly modulates cortical excitability. Neatly, anodal stimulation … [Read more...]
The Conversation acupuncture piece triggers a prickly debate
November 6, 2012 by 9 Comments
Neil OConnell and Lorimer Moseley just wrote this piece for The Conversation 'Acupuncture research – the path least scientific?' and it triggered some pretty heated debate - The Conversation stopped comments for fear of the abuse getting beyond what they see to be appropriate for the public space.It is indeed amazing to see how fired up and … [Read more...]
What grabs your attention?
October 23, 2012 by 5 Comments
Advertisers and marketers make a living out of grabbing your attention. They are not above using sudden loud noises (a salient physical stimulus or bottom-up attention grab). Nor do they shy away from top-down effects such as priming (defined as subtle suggestions made to the ‘subconscious’ brain to influence behaviour). But wait. Don’t … [Read more...]
Searching for Rene?
October 18, 2012 by 13 Comments
We stumbled across this video on YouTube. It has some terrific graphics and is well worth a look. It also has a spectacularly deep voiced star-trek type talking us through some of the neurochemical processes that occur when tissue is injured or inflamed. It touches on descending modulation, although attributes that to only one brainstem nucleus, … [Read more...]
It worked before but now it doesn’t? Graded Motor Imagery in Clinical Practice
October 16, 2012 by 4 Comments
While pain may be a universal experience, one experience that can often plague and frustrate everyone is that time when something works one moment but then all of a sudden doesn’t work the next. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing this you’ll find that it applies to many things in life whether it be the temperamental office … [Read more...]
Placebo Analgesia
October 11, 2012 by 14 Comments
One of the best workshops I attended at the IASP congress in Milano was on placebo analgesia, run by three very classy speakers: Luana Colloca, Ulrike Bingel, and Regine Klinger.I learnt lots about the neurobiological mechanisms of placebo and nocebo, and came away with lots to ponder. This is what I learnt:The rostral anterior cingulate … [Read more...]
It hurts. It’s in my genes.
October 9, 2012 by 3 Comments
“Variability is the law of life, and as no two faces are the same, so no two bodies are alike, and no two individuals react alike and behave alike under the abnormal conditions which we know as disease."- William Osler On the Educational Value of the Medical Society, In Aequanimitas, p.331 As we know there have been any number of chronic … [Read more...]
Donate now to make Lorimer do it in a dress!
October 4, 2012 by 3 Comments
Always wanted to see a Keynote Speaker do something outrageous? Do you think Lorimer would look fetching in a school dress? Now you have the chance to see both these things - donate here now.So, how on earth did Lorimer find himself in this situation? Here is, as they say in marketing parlance, the 'back story'.Last week was Research … [Read more...]
The search for the ‘hurt’…..in the brain?
October 2, 2012 by 11 Comments
It was quite the line up at the recent IASP conference: Tracey, Apkarian, Flor, Crombez, Iannetti, Moseley …the groupies were gathering around a melting pot of pain-full ideas.One such thought provoking notion was the search for “the ‘hurt’ in the brain”, in association with a staunch refuting of the use of the ‘pain signature’ … [Read more...]
Interoception and pain – is it better to be ignorant?
September 26, 2012 by 6 Comments
I just read a fascinating paper by Pollatos and colleagues[1] in a recent issue of Pain. This paper evaluated the relationship between interoception (ie, the ability to consciously perceive signals from the body) and pain perception. This study was based on the theory that emotive stimuli initiate changes in physiological and bodily processes and … [Read more...]
Not a dry eye in my house. Paralympics, pain and plasticity.
September 18, 2012 by 5 Comments
I LOVE the Olympics. And didn't London put on a stellar show - I have really enjoyed watching you Brits hold up the mirror and get rather surprised at how good you really are at stuff - the Olympic medal haul from Team GB was truly magnificent of course. I remember how Uber-Australian we all became during and for a while after the Sydney 2000 … [Read more...]
I didn’t do anything to deserve this….
September 13, 2012 by 9 Comments
And now you’re going to pay! Perceptions of injustice can emerge from a variety of conditions such as injury as the result of another’s actions – or in the case of not installing appropriate safety procedures – inactions - the experience of undeserved or irreparable loss or if the individual is exposed to a situation that transgresses human … [Read more...]
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