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Musculoskeletal pain is a prevalent health challenge for all age groups worldwide, but most notably in older adults. Social isolation is the consequence of a decrease in social network size with a reduction in the number of social contacts. Loneliness is the psychological embodiment of social isolation and represents an individual's perception of dissatisfaction in the quality or quantity of their social contacts. This study aims to determine whether a relationship exists between musculoskeletal pain and social isolation and loneliness.
Learn More >Neuropathic pain following surgery could be a useful model for the study of the genetic mechanisms of peripheral neuropathic pain.
Learn More >Reports in the literature have conflicting findings about an association between dry eye disease (DED) and migraine headaches.
Learn More >Pain which persists after thoracotomy is well recognized, and activation of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor could be a contributing factor. This study sought to establish whether ketamine given peri-operatively could reduce persistent post-surgical pain.
Learn More >This article presents the results of a parallel-group, non-randomized, controlled study that evaluated the feasibility of an online training program for improving observer detection of facial pain expression.
Learn More >Offset analgesia (OA) studies have found that small decreases in the intensity of a tonic noxious heat stimulus yield a disproportionately large amount of pain relief. In the classic OA paradigm, the decrease in stimulus intensity is preceded by an increase of equal size from an initial noxious level. While the majority of researchers believe this temporal sequence of two changes is important for eliciting OA, it has also been suggested that the temporal contrast mechanism underlying OA may enhance detection of simple, isolated decreases in noxious heat. To test whether decreases in noxious heat intensity, by themselves, are perceived better than increases of comparable sizes, we used an adaptive two-interval alternative forced choice task to find perceptual thresholds for increases and decreases in radiant and contact heat. Decreases in noxious heat were more difficult to perceive than increases of comparable sizes from the same initial temperature of 45°C. In contrast, decreases and increases were perceived equally well within a common range of noxious temperatures (i.e., when increases started from 45°C and decreases started from 47°C). In another task, participants rated the pain intensity of heat stimuli that randomly and unpredictably increased, decreased or remained constant. Ratings of unpredictable stimulus decreases also showed no evidence of perceptual enhancement. Our results demonstrate that there is no temporal contrast enhancement of simple, isolated decreases in noxious heat intensity. Combined with previous OA findings, they suggest that long-lasting noxious stimuli that follow an increase-decrease pattern may be important for eliciting the OA effect.
Learn More >To describe contextual factors (CFs) used by nurses to increase placebo and to prevent nocebo effects.
Learn More >Evidence supports high rates of co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain disorders involving central sensitization (CS). The nature of this relationship, however, remains relatively unexplored. In this study, we aimed to (1) assess how both trauma exposure and current PTSD symptoms are related to clinical manifestations of CS, and (2) test whether PTSD symptoms explain the relationship between trauma exposure and CS. Because experiential avoidance has been shown to impact the relationship between trauma and health outcomes, we (3) explored experiential avoidance as a possible mediator or moderator of the trauma-CS relationship.
Learn More >The term context sensitivity refers to whether a response is in tune with the ever changing demands of the context, while insensitivity is the lack of responding to these cues. To date, we know little about how well patients with pain respond emotionally to changes in the cues provided by the social context, that is, how emotionally context (in)sensitive they are and if this is related to problem severity. The aim of this experimental study was to test a method for determining levels of context sensitivity in individuals with subacute and chronic pain and to explore the link between context (in)sensitivity and pain-related problems. We operationalized context (in)sensitivity as participants' emotional responses (observed facial expressions and self-reported affect) and pain bothersomeness in these contexts and explored the association between these context-(in)sensitive social-emotional responses and pain-related problems.
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