The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society
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Pain is a significant symptom experienced frequently by individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD). Pain management includes strategies such as oral rehydration, non-pharmacological therapies (eg, massage, relaxation), and oral analgesics and opioids. Shared decision-making around pain management is emphasized repeatedly in recent guidelines; however, research is sparse regarding factors to be considered in shared decision-making approaches including the perceived risks and benefits of opioids. ⋯ Elements of patient and caregiver decision-making identified in this study may be applied to shared decision-making strategies in the clinical setting and future study. PERSPECTIVE: This study illustrates the factors involved in decision-making around home opioid use for pain management in children and young adults with SCD. These findings can be applied to determining shared decision-making approaches around pain management between providers and patients, in accordance with recent SCD pain management guidelines.
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Although combining computational modeling with event-related potentials (ERPs) can precisely characterize neurocognitive processes involved in attention bias, it has yet to be applied in the context of pain. Here, a hierarchical drift-diffusion model (DDM) along with ERPs was used to characterize the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying attention bias towards pain. A spatial cueing paradigm was adopted, in which the locations of targets were either validly or invalidly predicted by spatial cues related to pain or nonpain signals. ⋯ PERSPECTIVE: This study characterized the neurocognitive processes involved in attention bias towards pain through combining a hierarchical DDM and ERPs. Our results revealed distinctive neurocognitive mechanisms underlying engagement and disengagement components of attention bias. Future studies are warranted to examine whether our findings are pain-specific or not.
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Chronic post-traumatic musculoskeletal pain (CPTP) is a common outcome of traumatic stress exposure. Biological factors that influence the development of CPTP are poorly understood, though current evidence indicates that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays a critical role in its development. Little is known about molecular mechanisms underlying this association, including epigenetic mechanisms. ⋯ Our results suggest that methylation of HPA axis genes including POMC and CRHBP predict risk for and may contribute to vulnerability to CPTP. PERSPECTIVE: Peritraumatic blood levels of CpG methylation sites in HPA axis genes, particularly CpG sites in the POMC gene, predict CPTP development. This data substantially advances our understanding of epigenetic predictors and potential mediators of CPTP, a highly common, morbid, and hard-to-treat form of chronic pain.
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Intensive interdisciplinary pain treatments (IIPT) have been developed to treat youth with unmanaged chronic pain and functional disability. Dysregulation of metabolites gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate are thought to play a role in the chronification of pain due to imbalances in inhibition and excitation in adults. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), we investigated the effect of IIPT on GABA and Glx (glutamate + glutamine) in 2 pain-related brain regions: the left posterior insula (LPI) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). ⋯ IIPT may decrease GABAergic inhibitory tone within the LPI, thereby promoting plasticity and contributing to improvements in physical outcomes with IIPT. PERSPECTIVE: Regional GABA changes are associated with a reduction in pain interference and improvement in physical function in youth following intensive pain rehabilitation. GABA may serve as a possible biomarker for IIPT; and may also further aid in the development of IIPT, and other treatments for chronic pain in youth.
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We evaluated how pain processing and situational pain catastrophizing differed between 2 music interventions (Unwind and favorite music) and a control condition (white noise). Healthy adults (n = 70) completed quantitative sensory testing (QST) measuring pressure pain threshold (PPTh) and tolerance (PPTol), heat pain threshold (HPTh), offset analgesia (OA), temporal summation of pain (TSP), and conditioned pain modulation (CPM). Participants completed 3 QST rounds with the presence of white noise (control condition), a relaxing music app (Unwind), and their favorite music, which were presented in a randomized order. ⋯ More research is necessary to determine the mechanism(s) by which music modulates pain processing. PERSPECTIVE: This article presents evidence that participant-chosen favorite music can alter several aspects of nociceptive processing, including catastrophic thinking about pain, compared to white noise or relaxing music. Employing an individual's favorite music during episodic or procedural pain might represent a cost effective adjunctive analgesic strategy.