One of the interesting things with recent fMRI imaging studies of the brain is that we can see what’s happening in the brain when there is pain. This study on acute pain also sheds light on the transition to chronic pain via a couple of brain pathways we have spoken about before. We are talking […]
New research article titled: “Is lumbar fusion necessary for chronic low back pain associated with degenerative disc disease? A meta-analysis.” The short answer is “NO”. The researchers came to this conclusion after looking at multiple studies: ‘The present meta-analysis determined that fusion surgery was no better than nonoperative treatment in terms of the pain and […]
New study November 2020 that looked at 375 women coming to an inner city emergency department for acute pain. They followed these people for 3 months. 162 people still had pain at the end of 3 months while the others recovered. What they found was: “The no recovery group reported significantly greater PTSD symptoms, anger, […]
This is one of those research articles I refer to often. It’s titled: ‘Predicting transition to chronic pain’. What is so interesting about this research is they did brain scans at the time of an acute low back pain episode and then again a year later. In the people whose pain became chronic, they found […]
The Amygdala is known as the emotional center of the brain. It has been implicated in anxiety and depression and now studies are clearly showing it is implicated with chronic pain. This study showed exactly that, and it also highlighted that pain catastrophizing had the greatest impact on the abnormal amygdala to central executive network […]
Pain Catastrophizing is a ‘tendency to magnify and ruminate about pain and having a helpless attitude toward actual or anticipated pain.’ Studies show that people who catastrophize about their pain have higher pain levels. This occurs through mechanisms in the brain. This review study below from 2019 highlights some of the brain areas that are […]
Article titled: “The Neuroscience of Mindfulness: How Mindfulness Alters the Brain and Facilitates Emotion Regulation” Some of the same areas of the brain that become weak (prefrontal cortex, etc) or overactive (amygdala) with chronic pain and chronic health issues are the same ones that change for the better with mindfulness. Mindfulness is defined as: ‘A […]
When looking at the brain’s impact on chronic pain, we have to look to the prefrontal cortex. 2020 review of the research says: ‘Its predominant role in aversive learning and memory puts the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in a pole position as a hub for the development of mental comorbidities associated with chronic pain.’ The […]
July 2020 publication in the Journal ‘Pain’ looking at what’s called Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), which the study authors state is ‘a dispositional fear of the unknown’ and is related to anxiety and excessive worry. This study looked at how ‘uncertainty regarding a chronic pain diagnosis and treatment may fuel beliefs that something serious was […]
2020 study out of Europe looking at fibromyalgia and how these people have a harder time dealing with their emotions. As we know how we deal with emotions affects pain levels. Emotions are the biggest missing piece in the chronic pain world that many healthcare workers and patients fail to look at. We have more […]
