• Roy La Touche, Alba Paris-Alemany, Luis Suso-Martí, Noelia Martín-Alcocer, Francisco Mercado, and Ferran Cuenca-Martínez.
• Departamento de Fisioterapia, Centro Superior de Estudios, Universitarios La Salle, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
• Eur J Pain. 2020 Oct 1; 24 (9): 1741-1751.

BackgroundThe main objective of this study was to assess pain memory as well as long-term episodic memory, both in patients with chronic pain (CP) and in asymptomatic participants (AP).MethodsA prospective cohort study design was used. Sixty-eight participants were divided into two groups: CP (n = 34) and AP (n = 34). The protocol consisted of taking eight tests, four painful provocation tests and four distracting tests, and completing a memory test on the order of the tests at the end of the experiment and at 1-month post-experiment.ResultsPatients with CP showed acceptable concordance in the classification, in ascending order from lower to higher pain perception, both post-experiment and 1-month post-experiment (κ = 0.41-0.60, p < .001). No differences were found regarding recall of the order of the tests, but differences were found in painful tests isolated only post-experiment in the CP group with a moderate effect size (p < .05, d = 0.77).ConclusionsPatients with CP had a more reliable memory than AP in relation to the memory of the pain caused experimentally until at least 1 month after the experiment. Interspersing distraction tests appeared to result in increased complexity and difficulty in coding and decoding information in patients with CP, leading to similar reliable long-term memory consolidation in comparison with AP.SignificanceTreatments directed towards chronic pain should consider the influence of painful memories and their establishment towards long-term explicit episodic memories in patients with chronic pain, as well as the influence of cognitive-evaluative and affective-motivational variables on memory. Not causing pain while implementing a treatment whose objective is to reduce pain could reduce the probability of developing new painful memories in patients with chronic pain.© 2020 European Pain Federation - EFIC®.

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