The impact of weather conditions on pain experiences   December 29th, 2022
It is that time of the year again… The leaves have fallen from the trees, days are short, and the weather outside is freezing cold. While we are spending our time sitting on the couch under a nice warm blanket, we daydream about sunny beaches, summer bars, and flip flops. Typically during winter, we have the feeling that our neck or low back is hurting more. Our joints are feeling stiff and we have less motivation to exercise. Health professionals experience that their patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain are feeling worse during bad weather. But is this only a feeling? Or does the weather actually influence our pain experiences?
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Introducing the newly proposed Fit-for-Purpose model for chronic low back pain   December 28th, 2022
Just published in Physical Therapy in November 2022 is a proposed new model for addressing the problem of chronic low back pain (CLBP) in physiotherapy: The Fit-for-Purpose model (Wand et al., 2022).
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My Rotator Cuff Tear may have serious consequences on my life! - Are injury perceptions a prognostic factor for the outcome pre and post Rotator Cuff Repair?   November 2nd, 2022
Illness perceptions - or in our case injury perceptions - are defined as organized representations patients have about their condition (injury). Health threats may elicit these cognitive and emotional representations and further influence a patient’s behavior. Cognitive representations are central mechanisms to control danger and emotional representations are central mechanisms to control fear. If the central neural system (CNS) decides a person is in danger, pain may be processed. Pain is a neurophysiological phenomenon and one of the most powerful and sophisticated constructs from the human’s sensitive CNS to protect us from danger.
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The CIM Project: Together We Bring Team Fibromyalgia to the Foot of the Highest Mountain in the World   November 2nd, 2022
CIM Project Is is a non-profit organization project promoted by technical sports personnel from mountain activities and health personnel, who work together to promote the development and practice of physical activity and sports, aimed at the inclusion of people with disabilities, chronicity or in the aging process, as well as different groups at risk of social exclusion, such as migrants, people with low economic resources, etc. for prevention, health promotion and therapeutic intervention in the field of nature and mountains.
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Impact of technology and health-related effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on elderly people.   November 1st, 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic, decreed by the World Health Organisation on 11th March 2020, has had a dramatic impact on the health of the population, especially the elderly people. Lockdowns and mobility restrictions became a necessary measure to stop the spread of the virus and resulted in a drastic sudden change in everyone’s lifestyle and a great influence on the diet, exercise, social activities, and mental health.
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The challenge of physical activity: Overcoming the hurdles   October 31st, 2022
Guidelines on pain management for patients with chronic pain all promote physical activity and exercise as part of treatment strategies. However, chronic pain is a very broad term and it encompasses many different populations. Each individual will have a different experience of their pain and will have different influencing factors.
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Information about Low Back Pain on Brazilian official Websites do not follow the current guidelines.   July 12th, 2022
The internet presents much health information that is available to anyone with easy access. It has become the primary source for patients and families to find information about their clinical condition including symptoms, preventive methods and treatment options [1].
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SYSTEMIC CYTOKINE LEVEL DIFFERENCES IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC MUSCULOSKELETAL SPINAL PAIN COMPARED TO HEALTHY CONTROLS AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH PAIN SEVERITY   July 11th, 2022
Chronic musculoskeletal pain is one of the most common chronic pain conditions and can be described as pain arising from muscles, tendons, joints and ligaments, which has been present for at least three months [1, 2]. Chronic spinal pain (CSP) is the most frequent form of chronic musculoskeletal pain and is situated in the cervical, thoracic or lumbar region [3-8].
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Could a “waste management problem” be involved in chronic pain?   July 10th, 2022
Distinguishing normal from abnormal when interpreting brain scans can be challenging, especially as a novice. One of the patterns you might notice is that certain brains have enlarged perivascular spaces. These spaces, also referred to as “Virchow-Robin” spaces, are generally considered normal.
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Pain and opioid use in cancer survivors: should we account for perceived injustice?   July 9th, 2022
Pain is one of the most disabling and occurring symptoms in cancer survivors (1). About 5-10% of people surviving cancer develop chronic severe pain, which is up to 40% in the early post-treatment period of cancer (2). Up to now, pain medication is still the recommended standard treatment for cancer-related pain (3).
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A supersystem within the human body as a framework for associations between the nervous, endocrine, and immune system   May 24th, 2022
A human being can be considered as an open, living adaptive system that aims to adapt to the environment and survival. Like every system, it includes nested subsystems, that function as component parts. A system is defined by a set of components constituting a whole within which each component interacts with or is related to at least one other component. All these components serve a common objective. Some (sub)systems of the human body are the nervous, endocrine, and immune system, and they function interdependently. In the following, I will explain how these systems work, in what way these specific systems function interdependently, and why this is different for each individual.
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An eHealth application for perioperative pain neuroscience education: introducing the B²EARS-APP   May 23rd, 2022
In just two years, COVID-19 has broadly impacted and disrupted usual health care, often leading to the postponement of non-urgent health care practices [1]. Despite these and other negative consequences, the pandemic is also responsible for an increase in the use of tele- and eHealth applications. Such applications use the potential of smartphones, computers, and the internet to allow for remote patient treatment and monitoring [2, 3]. Specifically, patient education via e-learning seems to be a cost-effective and easy-to-implement use of such eHealth applications. In fact, studies introducing eHealth applications as a way to further inform and educate patients have already been completed successfully [4-6]. Though eHealth interventions for perioperative education in patients undergoing lumbar surgery are still evolving, early evidence is supportive of such applications [7].
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Treating persistent pain after breast cancer: practice gaps and future directions   May 22nd, 2022
A new international, multidisciplinary collaborative has been formed with world-leading experts in pain science education, (cancer) pain, and oncological rehabilitation: Pain Education after CANcer.
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Chronic pain and aging: How we face it?   May 22nd, 2022
Chronic pain is one of the major concerns worldwide. Chronic pain in the elderly can be a challenging situation for clinicians not just for the complexity of chronic pain itself but also for the comorbidities that can be present at this age range.
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Epigenetics and the autonomic nervous system: what is their role in chronic pain?   May 21st, 2022
The word “epigenetics” can be split in “epi” and “genetics” - “epi” means on and “genetics” refers to DNA - so epigenetics refers to molecules that are attached on our DNA. These molecules change the readability of the manual of our body and thus impact all body functions. What is interesting about epigenetics, is that it can be influenced by several factors, for example lifestyle and environmental factors.
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How to taper patients with chronic pain off of opioids? Pain education and a multi-/transdisciplinary approach!   May 21st, 2022
Chronic pain is a health problem that is affecting about 20 percent of the European population (Van Hecke, Torrance & Smith, 2013). Considering the cost of chronic pain, we should take into account the public health care expenditure but also costs caused by loss of productivity (Boonen, 2005). According to the ‘NHG standard: pain’ (De Jong et al., 2018) for the pharmacological treatment of pain, the first step is the use of a non-opioid analgesic, including paracetamol, followed by the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). If this does not work (sufficiently), step two is the prescription of a weak opioid analgesic such as tramadol.
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Kids & needles: Things to consider and tips & tricks for parents and clinicians   May 20th, 2022
For many children, needle procedures can be a painful and distressing experience. Such negative experiences can further develop into fear of needles (McMurtry et al., 2015) with a possibility of adverse consequences, such as health care avoidance behavior and vaccine hesitancy. Given the current combat with the COVID-19 pandemic and global vaccination campaign, which since recently also includes children, reducing fear of needles is important to consider and manage (Love and Love, 2021).
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The convergent validity of the central sensitization inventory in chronic whiplash associated disorders   March 7th, 2022
Whiplash associated disorders remain the most common injury associated with motor vehicle accidents and a major cause of disability (Ritchie et al, 2013). The consequences for people suffering a whiplash injury can be substantial with an evidential impact on their daily living (Campbell et al, 2018). Still, the exact pathophysiology is not entirely clear.
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Can patients with chronic fatigue syndrome assess their physical activity level through self-report?   March 4th, 2022
Physical activity levels can be assessed by two main types of measures: objective or subjective measures (Prince et al., 2008). Each measure has its own strengths and weaknesses confirming the need for the examination of their psychometric properties (Prince et al., 2008; Hills et al., 2014).
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Is knee osteoarthritis always chronic secondary pain?   March 2nd, 2022
Chronic pain, chronic primary pain, chronic secondary musculoskeletal pain, chronic postsurgical or posttraumatic pain,… What is the difference between these terms and which one contains knee osteoarthritis pain?
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The lived experience – qualitative research in the field of chronic pain   March 1st, 2022
There is something tempting about numbers and figures. They are ‘clear’, we believe them to be straightforward and helpful in untangling our complex world. In healthcare, both clinical and in research, we love quantitative measures.
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Pain memories: Something to consider in People with Haemophilia (PwH)   February 28th, 2022
Haemophilia is a genetic disorder which is characterized by recurrent joint bleedings. Consequently, the majority of adult PwH suffer from very painful and invalidating hemophilic arthropathy. Although the complexity of joint pain has been studied in several chronic joint pain conditions, until present only very limited research has been done on joint pain within PwH. As a result, developing effective treatments for chronic pain in PwH has been clearly identified as a priority for research in bleeding disorders.
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How to exercise at home? Creating an individual strength and stretching workout to perform in a home environment   January 18th, 2022
It is a challenging time to stay active and to adapt our normal activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As working out in group or with a supervisor is not always possible, exercises at home gain popularity. We have never been walking so much as during the past year, as it was one of the only possibilities to have some social contact.
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