European journal of pain : EJP
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Extensive audio-motor training and psychological stress can cause professional musicians acute overstrain-injury and chronic pain, resulting in damaged careers and diminished quality of life. It has also been previously shown that musicians might perceive pain differently than non-musicians. Therefore, the aim of our study was to quantify differences between musicians and non-musicians regarding their subjective responses to painful contact heat stimuli and assess how emotional traits might influence these responses. ⋯ The findings of this report justify musicians' repetitive sensorimotor training as an important model for plasticity and contribute to a better understanding of pain perception in musicians.
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Meta Analysis
Cannabinoids for Acute Postoperative Pain Management: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials.
Poor acute postoperative pain control, coupled with the use of intravenous medications with a limited and unsafety efficacy spectrum, has led to new therapeutic alternative explorations to reduce adverse events while increasing its analgesic efficacy. There cannabinoids have been proposed as a useful control agent in post-surgical pain. Nevertheless, to date, there is no solid evidence to evaluate them. The current article sought to determine cannabinoids' effectiveness and safety in the aforementioned context. ⋯ The management of severe pain after surgery, and the use of intravenous drugs with limited and potentially unsafe effectiveness, has led to the exploration of new treatment options to minimize side effects while improving pain relief. Cannabinoids have been suggested as a potential solution for managing post-surgical pain, but there is currently insufficient evidence to assess their effectiveness. The purpose of this article was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of cannabinoids in this context.
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Central sensitization (CS) is believed to play a role in many chronic pain conditions. Direct non-invasive recording from single nociceptive neurons is not feasible in humans, complicating CS establishment. This review discusses how secondary hyperalgesia (SHA), considered a manifestation of CS, affects physiological measures in healthy individuals and if these measures could indicate CS. It addresses controversies about heat sensitivity changes, the role of tactile afferents in mechanical hypersensitivity and detecting SHA through electrical stimuli. Additionally, it reviews the potential of neurophysiological measures to indicate CS presence. ⋯ Gathering evidence for CS in humans is a crucial research focus, especially with the increasing interest in concepts such as 'central sensitization-like pain' or 'nociplastic pain'. This review clarifies which readouts, among the different behavioural and neurophysiological proxies tested in experimental settings, can be used to infer the presence of CS in humans.
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Geographic origin may represent a variable capable of influencing health status. This study aims to investigate the presence of differences of disease severity in Italian patients with fibromyalgia from different macro-regions. ⋯ This is the first study to demonstrate geographical origin-dependent intra-national differences in the severity of fibromyalgia. The results confirm the necessity of considering fibromyalgia within the context of the biopsychosocial model and of implementing healthcare policies targeted towards the most underserved regions.
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Despite functional connectivity network dysfunction among individuals with headaches, no studies have examined functional connectivity neural correlates and anatomical differences in coping with headaches. ⋯ This study highlights the potential use of emerging behavioural biomarkers in headache management, such as pain acceptance, and their role in modifying the headache experience. Notably, grey matter reorganization in the cerebellum and other known brain pain networks, could indicate brain networks that can be modified from targeted behavioural interventions to help decode the nociplastic mechanisms that predominates in headaches.