European journal of pain : EJP
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Visualizing one's own painful body part appears to have an effect on reported pain intensity. Furthermore, it seems that manipulating the size of the viewed image can determine the direction and extent of this phenomenon. When visual distortion has been applied to clinical populations, the analgesic effects have been in opposition to those observed in some experimental pain models. To help resolve this problem, we explored the effect of visualisation and magnification of the visual image on reported pain using a delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) pain model. ⋯ We present delayed onset muscle soreness as a model for exploring visually induced analgesia. Our findings suggest that this phenomenon is expressed differently in exogenous and endogenous experimental pain models. Further exploration may offer a potential pathway for the integration of visual analgesia into the management of clinical pain.
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Recurring vulvovaginal pain is common, with evident effects on affected women's lives. Little is known about how affected women cope with painful sexual activities and how coping relates to pain intensity and psychosexual functioning over time. This prospective study explored the impact of avoidance and endurance on sexual function over time. Additionally, patterns of coping were studied on an individual level to increase knowledge about coping and its relation to psychosexual functioning. ⋯ In this prospective study, avoidance of sexual activities predicted sexual function over time, when controlling for pain intensity. Subgroups of women using distinct patterns of coping were identified. Those who both avoided and endured had the lowest levels of psychosexual functioning.
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Neuropathic pain is thought to be mediated by aberrant impulses from sensitized primary afferents, and the temporal summation of the discharges might also influence nociceptive processing. Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels (Ih current) generate rhythmic activity in neurons within the central nervous system and contribute to nociceptors excitability in neuropathic pain. ⋯ We show an involvement of HCN channels in the modulation of ectopic spontaneous discharges from C-nociceptors. This finding exposes a mechanism of nociceptive transmission enhancement and highlights the clinical relevance of peripheral HCN blockade for spontaneous pain relief during neuropathy.
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Preclinical assays of affective and sensorial aspects of nociception play a key role in research on both the neurobiology of pain and the development of novel analgesics. Therefore, we investigated the effects of nicotine and alpha-7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) modulators in the negative affective and sensory components of visceral pain in mice. ⋯ The present results suggest that allosteric modulation of α7 nAChR may provide new strategies in affective aspects of nociception.
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A large subset of persons with migraine suffers from coexisting tension-type headache and neck pain which may adversely affect the prognosis of migraine. Aerobic exercise has been shown to decrease migraine burden in these persons. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whether the effect of aerobic exercise in persons with migraine and coexisting tension-type headache and neck pain can be explained by changes in pain perception. ⋯ This study adds further knowledge about the positive effect of aerobic exercise for persons with migraine and coexisting tension-type headache and neck pain. This effect cannot be measured by changes in pain modulation, but may rather be explained by positive alteration of avoidance behaviour.