The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Linking non-restorative sleep and activity interference through pain catastrophizing and pain severity: An intra-day process model among individuals with fibromyalgia.
Nonrestorative sleep is a key diagnostic feature of the musculoskeletal pain disorder fibromyalgia and is robustly associated with poor physical functioning, including activity interference. However, the mechanisms through which nonrestorative sleep elicits activity interference among individuals with fibromyalgia at the within-person level remain unclear. The present study tested the following 3-path mediation model, using data gathered from a 21-day electronic daily diary in 220 individuals with fibromyalgia: previous night nonrestorative sleep → morning pain catastrophizing → afternoon pain severity → end-of-day activity interference. ⋯ These findings point to the potential utility of targeted interventions that improve both sleep quality and pain catastrophizing to help individuals with chronic pain engage in important daily activities despite experiencing pain. PERSPECTIVE: This study provides a better understanding of how nonrestorative sleep is associated with daily activity interference among individuals with fibromyalgia. An intervention that targets attenuating nonrestorative sleep and pain catastrophizing may help improve daily physical functioning of this population.
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Epidemiological studies have to a little extent addressed the potential fluctuations of chronic pain over time, and there is a lack of information about the long-term course of pain using repeated measurements. We wanted to identify different trajectories of pain during 8 waves of follow-up over 4 years among individuals in the general population reporting pain lasting at least 6 months at baseline. Secondarily, we wanted to investigate whether biopsychosocial factors at baseline were associated with the different pain trajectories. ⋯ PERSPECTIVE: When examining the long-term course of chronic pain in the general population, 5 trajectories emerge. Although most individuals have stable pain, the largest distinct trajectory fluctuated under and above the chronic pain cut-off, using moderate pain or more as a criterion. A dichotomous categorization of chronic pain may be overly simplistic.
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Migraine is characterized by an increased sensitivity to visual stimuli that worsens during attacks. Recent evidence has shown that feedforward volleys carrying incoming visual information induce high-frequency (gamma) oscillations in the visual cortex, while feedback volleys arriving from higher order brain areas induce oscillatory activity at lower frequencies (theta/alpha/low beta). We investigated visually induced high (feedforward) and low (feedback) frequency activations in healthy subjects and various migraine patients. ⋯ The presence of headache is associated with proportionally higher gamma (feedforward) activities. PERSPECTIVE: This study provides an insight into the pathophysiology of migraine headache from the perspective of cortical sensory processing dynamics. Patients with migraine present alterations in feedback and feedforward visual signaling that differ with the presence of headache.
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In this study, we investigated whether illusionary body ownership over artificial hands and non-corporeal objects modulates pain perception. Previous research has yielded to mixed results, but has separated painful stimulation used to test pain perception from the stimulation that was used to induce the illusion. Here, we used a variant of the rubber hand illusion (RHI) paradigm and induced the illusion directly via a combination of visual and painful stimuli. ⋯ PERSPECTIVE: This article presents a new visual-thermal method with painful stimuli for the induction of the Rubber Hand Illusion. An illusionary body ownership over artificial hands and non-corporeal has an analgesic effects on the perception of pain. Similar approaches might be useful to alleviate chronic pain, but needs further testing.
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Many studies have demonstrated a link between experiences of physical pain and those of social rejection, both of which can trigger cognitive processes involved in detecting, orienting toward, or reacting to potentially threatening events. This study tested the hypothesis that healthy individuals who are more sensitive to physical pain are also more sensitive to social rejection. We recruited participants with high or low pain-sensitivity (HPS and LPS), as assessed by scores on a pain-sensitivity questionnaire and confirmed by experimental pain-sensitivity assessment. ⋯ Altogether, these results supported the idea of shared sensitivity in detecting potentially physical and social threats in the environment. PERSPECTIVES: This study showed the greater emotional reactions and early-latency δ/θ-oscillations in response to social evaluation among healthy individuals with high pain sensitivity. It supports the idea of shared sensitivity to physical pain and social evaluation, which could be governed by a common system for detecting and monitoring potentially environmental threats.