European journal of pain : EJP
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Seeing the site of treatment improves habitual pain but not cervical joint position sense immediately after manual therapy in chronic neck pain patients.
Visual analgesia refers to the phenomena where people report decreased pain intensity when they see the painful or painfully stimulated body part. Alongside pain, sensorimotor impairment (i.e., disturbed proprioception) is also evident in chronic pain. This study aims to investigate whether real-time visual feedback offers additional pain relief and proprioceptive improvement when used in combination with recommended therapies in neck pain patients who received manual therapy with or without real-time visual feedback. ⋯ Real-time visual feedback reduces habitual pain immediately after the intervention. Due to its easy integration, it may be an effective adjunct to recommended interventions (i.e., manual therapy) in patients with neck pain.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Static magnetic field exposure in 1.5 and 3 Tesla MR scanners does not influence pain and touch perception in healthy volunteers.
Magnetic field therapy is a popular approach to pain therapy, but scientific evidence on treatment effects or even effects on sensory and pain perception in healthy controls is scarce. ⋯ We used clinical MR scanners to investigate the effect of magnetic fields on pain perception. Using a rigorous, straightforward, placebo-controlled design, no effect of static magnetic fields on human experimental pain perception was detected. This provides a base for a more systematic investigation of magnetic field effects on pain.
-
Previous research has shown that self-compassion is associated with improved functioning and health outcomes among multiple chronic illnesses. However, the role of self-compassion in chronic pain-related functioning is understudied. The present study sought to understand the association between self-compassion and important measures of functioning within a sample of patients with chronic pain. ⋯ Self-compassion is associated with better functioning across multiple general and pain-specific outcomes, with the strongest associations among measures related to psychological functioning and valued living. These findings indicate that self-compassion may be an adaptive process that could minimize the negative impact of chronic pain on important areas of life.
-
Burns are a common and traumatic source of childhood injury in the United States. The treatment and recovery from burn injuries can be significantly painful and may lead to chronic or persistent pain for years following the initial incident. Further, burn injuries in youth have been found to increase the potential for significant psychosocial (e.g., anxiety, depression, PTSD) and physical (e.g., decreased mobility) impairment. Relatedly, the general experience and processing of pain in youth can also be associated with greater psychosocial (e.g., anxiety, depression) impairment and functional disability over time. However, the phenomenology and associated characteristics of the pain experience following burn injury and, in particular, the potential for combined impact on physical and psychosocial outcomes in youth with severe and/or prolonged pain and a history of burn injury is poorly understood. ⋯ Using a biopsychosocial framework, this review highlights the need for a greater understanding of pain processing and the long-term potential for persistent pain and pain-related impairment (e.g., functional disability) in youth with a history of burn injuries.
-
Injury to peripheral nerves often leads to abnormal pain states (hyperalgesia, allodynia and spontaneous pain), which can remain long after the injury heals. Although opioid agonists remain the gold standard for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, they show reduced efficacy against neuropathic pain. In addition to analgesia, opioid use is also associated with hyperalgesia and analgesia tolerance, whose underlying mechanisms share some commonalities with nerve injury-induced hypersensitivity. ⋯ Finally, some combined therapies that can increase opioid analgesic effectiveness in neuropathic pain treatment are highlighted. SIGNIFICANCE: This review provides evidence of the low benefit of opioid monotherapy in neuropathic pain and analyses the reasons of this reduced effectiveness. Opioid agonists along with drugs targeted to block the sensitization processes induced by MOR stimulation might result in a better management of neuropathic pain.