European journal of pain : EJP
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Monthly primary dysmenorrhoeic pain is associated with increased sensitivity to painful stimuli, particularly in deep tissue. We investigated whether women with dysmenorrhoea, compared with controls, have increased sensitivity to experimentally induced deep-tissue muscle ischaemia in a body area distant from that of referred menstrual pain. ⋯ These data show that compared with controls, women who experience severe recurrent dysmenorrhoea have deep-tissue hyperalgesia to ischaemic pain in muscles outside of the referred area of menstrual pain both during the painful menstruation phase and pain-free follicular phase. These findings suggest the presence of long-lasting changes in muscle pain sensitivity in women with dysmenorrhoea. Our findings that dysmenorrhoeic women are hyperalgesic to a clinically relevant, deep-muscle ischaemic pain in areas outside of referred menstrual pain confirm other studies showing long-lasting changes in pain sensitivity outside of the painful period during menstruation.
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Studies have addressed the effect of multimodal pain rehabilitation (MMR), whereas criteria for selection are sparse. This study examines whether higher scores on musculoskeletal pain measures are associated with selection to MMR, and whether this differs across gender. ⋯ Higher scores on self-reported pain did not guide selection to MMR and a negative trend was found among women. Studies of referral patterns and decision processes may contribute to a better understanding of the clinical practice that decides selection to MMR.
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Protocols for testing conditioned pain modulation (CPM) vary between different labs/clinics. In order to promote research and clinical application of this tool, we summarize the recommendations of interested researchers consensus meeting regarding the practice of CPM and report of its results.
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Attentional biases for pain-related information have been commonly reported in patients with chronic pain. Biases may also exist in individuals who recently experienced an episode of acute clinical pain, although limited investigation has been conducted. The present study is the first to explore attentional biases in women who experienced recent menstrual pain. ⋯ Pain-related attentional biases are associated with recent menstrual pain severity. The experience and severity of pain, rather than its duration (i.e., whether pain is chronic or acute), may be the primary determinants of pain-related attentional bias. Future research could explore attentional biases in acute clinical pain samples to confirm this notion.