The Clinical journal of pain
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Attentional biases for pain-related words and images have commonly been reported in individuals with chronic pain. In former studies, however, pain-related stimuli have been presented without context, for example, facial expressions of pain with no accompanying information regarding the location, severity, or cause of pain or injury. The present study investigated attentional biases for pain-related information using complex, real-world scenes in an ecologically valid experimental paradigm. ⋯ This study is the first to show individuals with chronic pain possess attentional biases for pain-related information presented as part of complex, real-world scenes. Possible future research includes the use of real-world scenes in visual-search paradigms modifying attentional biases, and exploration into the relations and effects of combined cognitive biases (eg, attention, memory, and interpretation) in chronic pain.
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Multicenter Study
Predictive Factors Associated with Success and Failure for Calmare (Scrambler) Therapy: A Multi-Center Analysis.
Calmare (Scrambler) therapy is a novel therapeutic modality that purports to provide pain relief by "scrambling" afferent pain signals and replacing them with "non-pain" information through conventional lines of neural transmission. The goal of this study is to identify which factors are associated with treatment outcome for Calmare therapy. ⋯ A neuropathic or mixed neuropathic-nociceptive pain condition was associated with a positive treatment outcome. Investigators should consider these findings when developing selection criteria in clinical trials designed to determine the efficacy of Calmare therapy.
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This study aims to describe what adults with chronic pain experience in their role as parents, utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods. The first aim was to compare parents with chronic pain to parents without chronic pain on perceptions of their adolescent's pain, parental response to pain, and catastrophizing beliefs about pain. The study also examined predictors of parental protective behaviors, and examined whether these associations differed by study group. ⋯ Chronic pain impacts everyday parenting activities and emotions, and impacts pain-specific parent responses that are known to be related to increased pain and pain catastrophizing in children and adolescents. Parents with chronic pain might benefit from interventions that address potential parenting difficulties, and might improve outcomes for their children.
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Sex differences in pain are well established, with women reporting greater incidence of clinical pain and heightened responsivity to experimental pain stimuli relative to men. Sex hormones (ie, estrogens, progestins, androgens) could contribute to extant differences in pain sensitivity between men and women. Despite this, there has been limited experimental research assessing the relationship between pain and sex hormones. The purpose of this study was to extend previous research and examine the association between sex hormones and nociceptive processing in healthy women. ⋯ Although future research is needed to replicate and extend these findings to clinical populations (ie, chronic pain, premenstrual dysphoric disorder), results from the present study indicate that menstrual phase-related changes in sex hormones have minimal influence on experimental pain. However, individual differences in testosterone may play a protective role against pain in healthy women.
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Self-report is often represented as "the gold standard" in assessment of pain intensity in children. We evaluate arguments for and against this claim and consider its implications for pain management. ⋯ We conclude that self-report, when available, can be considered a primary source of evidence about pain intensity. However, it cannot be treated as an unquestioned gold standard. Instead, hierarchical or bundled approaches should be used, taking into account self-report as well as the many individual and contextual factors that influence pain including clinical history, patient preferences, and response to previous treatments. Alternate models are presented to guide further practice and research.