Pain
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Longitudinal total knee arthroplasty (TKA) studies indicate that a substantial percentage of patients continue to experience clinically significant pain and functional impairment after surgery. Insomnia has been associated with poorer surgical outcomes; however, previous work has largely focused on long-term postsurgical insomnia. This study builds on previous work by examining sleep and pain outcomes about perioperative insomnia trajectories. ⋯ The New Insomnia trajectory had notable long-term insomnia (6 weeks to 6 months) and acute (6 weeks) postoperative pain and physical functioning ( P' s < 0.05). Findings indicated a significant relationship between perioperative insomnia trajectory and postoperative outcomes. Results of this study suggest that targeting presurgical insomnia and preventing the development of acute postoperative insomnia may improve long-term postoperative outcomes, with an emphasis on persistent perioperative insomnia due to poorer associated outcomes.
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The experience of pain associated with labour is complex and challenging to assess. A range of pain measurement tools are reported in the literature. This review aimed to identify current tools used in research to assess labour pain across the past decade and to evaluate their implementation and adequacy when used in the context of labour pain. ⋯ Numerous variations in the implementation of scales were noted. This included 35 variations found in the wording of the upper and lower anchors of the Visual Analogue Scale, some assessment tools not allowing an option for "no pain," and instances where only sections of validated tools were used. It is clear that development of a standardised pain assessment strategy, which evaluates the multidimensions of labour pain efficiently and effectively and allows for both positive and negative experiences of pain to be reported, is needed.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Mechanisms of education and graded sensorimotor retraining in people with chronic low back pain: a mediation analysis.
An improved understanding of the biopsychosocial influences that contribute to and maintain pain has promoted the development of new efficacious treatments for chronic low back pain (CLBP). This study aimed to investigate the mechanisms of a new treatment-education and graded sensorimotor retraining-on pain and disability. We conducted a preplanned causal mediation analysis of a randomized clinical trial which allocated 276 participants with CLBP to 12 weekly clinical sessions of education and graded sensorimotor retraining (n = 138) or a sham and attention control (n = 138). ⋯ Five of 7 mechanisms (71%) mediated the intervention effect on disability; the largest mediated effects were for beliefs about back pain consequences (-1.66 [-2.62 to -0.87]), pain catastrophizing (-1.06 [-1.79 to -0.53]), and pain self-efficacy (-0.84 [-1.89 to -0.45]). When all 7 mechanisms were considered simultaneously, the joint mediation effect explained most of the intervention effect for both pain and disability. Optimizing interventions to target beliefs about the consequences of back pain, pain catastrophizing, and pain self-efficacy is likely to lead to improved outcomes for people with CLBP.
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Sex differences in pain become apparent during puberty. However, the influence of key pubertal characteristics and pubertal hormones on pain is largely unknown. We examined the prospective associations between self-reported and hormone-indicated pubertal characteristics and pain incidence and severity in 10- to 11-year-old pain-free youth in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study over 1 year. ⋯ In boys, higher PDS item variance was associated with greater pain incidence (RR = 1.11, 95% CI, 1.03-1.20) and interference (beta = 0.40, 95% CI, 0.03-0.76); higher PDS overall and gonadal scores were associated with higher pain intensity ( P s < 0.05). Associations with hormones were seen in boys only, with each 10-fold higher testosterone levels associated with a 40% lower risk of pain incidence (95% CI, -55% to -22%) and 1.30-point lower (95% CI, -2.12 to -0.48) pain intensity, and higher DHEA levels were associated with lower pain intensity ( P = 0.020). Relationships between pubertal development and pain in peripubertal adolescents are sex specific and puberty measurement specific and warrant further investigation.
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Fibromyalgia has been characterized by augmented cross-network functional communication between the brain's sensorimotor, default mode, and attentional (salience/ventral and dorsal) networks. However, the underlying mechanisms of these aberrant communication patterns are unknown. In this study, we sought to understand large-scale topographic patterns at instantaneous timepoints, known as co-activation patterns (CAPs). ⋯ Using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we found that greater basal excitatory over inhibitory neurotransmitter levels within the anterior insula orchestrated higher cross-network connectivity between the anterior insula and the default mode network through lower occurrence of a CAP encompassing the attentional networks during sustained pain. Moreover, we found that hyperalgesia in fibromyalgia was mediated through increased occurrence of a CAP encompassing the sensorimotor network during sustained pain. In conclusion, this study elucidates the role of momentary large-scale topographic brain patterns in shaping noxious information in patients with fibromyalgia, while laying the groundwork for using precise spatiotemporal dynamics of the brain for the potential development of therapeutics.