Lisa Feldman Barrett, a well-respected neuroscientist, psychologist and known for her groundbreaking research on emotion, the brain, and the mind, shares some sublime insights in her book “How Emotions are Made.
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In the hustle and bustle of modern life, it's easy to overlook the simple yet profound act of breathing. However, for centuries, cultures around the world have recognized the therapeutic benefits of deep breathing exercises. In this blog post, we delve into the realm of breathwork and its remarkable potential in managing pain, offering a holistic approach to well-being that harnesses the power of the breath.
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​Do you consider all myofascial pain to be nociceptive pain? Do you consider all carpal tunnel syndrome and/or all post-chemotherapy pain pure neuropathic pain? Do you explain pain in the same way to patients with nociceptive, neuropathic, and nociceptive pain?1 If you respond positively to at least one of these questions, we invite you to continue reading. You see, phenotyping persistent pain into predominantly nociceptive, neuropathic or nociplastic pain is not that straightforward and potentially, pain phenotyping has clinical implications.
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It’s been two decades since we started studying the role of central nervous and immune systems in patients with chronic pain. Back then, we could not imagine what massive, global impact pain science would have on our profession and healthcare for patients suffering from pain in general.
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Pain is a complex and subjective experience that requires a person-centered approach in its management. In the realm of healthcare, person-centered communication is often underestimated in the management of pain. It extends beyond the mere collection of information: it serves as a gateway to understanding and a crucial alliance between the healthcare provider and the patient.
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The individual feeling of suffering and the personal translation of that experience into a patient’s daily living is the signature of the heterogenous subjectivity of chronic pain. By definition, a painful experience is always a personal interpretation. Yet, despite this knowledge, clinicians, pain physicians and clinical researchers still often use oversimplifications and minimizations of a patient’s health status through unidimensional constructs such as pain intensity.
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Nociplastic pain may not be characterized only by sensory hypersensitivity. What about persistent, widespread pain with numbness and sensory loss or hypo-sensitivity? How do we classify people with no allodynia to light touch, stroking nor hot/cold applied to the skin, no hyperpathia nor temporal summation but with widespread, unpredictable pain, perhaps some weakness, fatigue, sleep dysfunction and/or cognitive difficulties?
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Patients with cancer experience acute and chronic symptoms such as pain, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, depression and cognitive impairment. The co-occurence of these symptoms has been described as the symptom cluster, which is negatively associated with quality of life.
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One in four cancer survivors will experience persistent pain after ending cancer treatment. In our exploration of chronic pain among cancer survivors, evidence shows time and time again that physical activity plays a vital role in alleviating symptoms and improving quality of life.
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Our work and lifestyle choices are contributing to the normalization of poor sleep1,2. This is in contrast with the extensive research linking good quality sleep with positive mood, learning, memory consolidation, and physical recovery. Conversely, poor sleep leads to important consequences for our health1.
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​Before delving into the topic of interest for this post, I would first like you to take a look at the image of the two tables. To most people, this image depicts two tables of which one appears longer and thinner than the other. However, the truth is that the two tables are of the exact same size, both in terms of length and width.
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Let’s talk about sex!   December 4th, 2023
Let’s talk about sex, baby (1). Or maybe not? Let’s talk about gender! To talk about gender, I will start with some definitions so we speak the same language.
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Do you sometimes hear a ringing in your ears after a night out or a loud concert? If so, you're not alone. This phenomenon is called tinnitus, and it affects a significant number of people worldwide. In fact, about 10% of the population experiences chronic tinnitus (present for more than 3 months) (1). However, despite the high prevalence of tinnitus, we still have a lot to learn about its causes and effective treatments.
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​In 2020, the world was battling COVID-19 and many countries introduced lockdowns or restrictive measures. Three years later, such lockdowns and restrictive measures are luckily not required anymore to protect us from COVID-19, but did you know that millions of people (65 – 144 million) are still living in lockdown or under restrictive measures as a result of their COVID-19 infection? These people suffer from long COVID.
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Several chronic musculoskeletal conditions are characterized by pain and changes in connective tissue. Treatment has traditionally focused on regional processes. Frequently, it is thought the injuries arise from a local origin. Herein, local inflammation initiates mechanisms to drive adaptation and repair.
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Acute pain is “a normal, predicted physiological response and experience to a noxious chemical, thermal or mechanical stimulus associated with acute illness, trauma or surgery”.1,2 Acute pain is usually sudden in onset, limited in time, and motivates behavioral responses to avoid actual or potential tissue damage.
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Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists for more than three months and currently affects over 20% of people worldwide, making it the leading cause of disability and disease. Despite its prevalence, optimal treatment for chronic pain is still lacking.
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Although there are more cancer survivors due to better treatment options, cancer survivors still face many challenges including chronic pain1,2. According to recent studies, approximately 40% of cancer survivors suffer from chronic pain which significantly impacts their quality of life1,3,4. Nowadays, scientists are investigating the underlying mechanisms so they can better understand the causes of chronic pain in order to improve pain management.
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Culture matters!!!   March 31st, 2023
Chronic pain is a common, difficult, and distressing problem that significantly impacts society and individuals. The cause of chronic pain is a complex interaction between biological, psychological, and social factors. Understanding chronic pain in the context of a bio-psycho-social model will help to develop treatment plans and prevention strategies.
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If so, do you know how you are able to feel these feels? To notice these feelings you need the help of an important sense called interoception. The word interoception might not sound very sexy, but this sense is really important. It has a huge influence on many areas of our lives like self-regulation, mental health and social connection1.
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Health literacy refers to a person's ability to access, understand, and use information related to health(care). This includes the ability to read and understand health information, to navigate healthcare systems, to communicate effectively with healthcare providers, and to apply the information to make decisions about one's own health.
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Somatic symptom disorders (SSD) are characterized by an excessive focus on somatic symptoms that causes significant emotional distress and a disruption of daily life. In addition, individuals suffering from a SSD often have excessive thoughts, feelings and/or behaviors related to these somatic symptoms and associated health concerns [1].
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Sleep and pain, a vicious cycle   March 24th, 2023
Are you experiencing pain? If yes, consider asking the next question: how well did you sleep last night?
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Around six years ago, I went to Kisumu, Kenya for an International Aid and Development program (IAD). My landlord there shared an educational story in the field of IAD. “Once upon a time”, she said, “an American engineer found out that women in Kisumu needed to walk for hours to get fresh water and carry that water back home.
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Pain catastrophizing: as a clinician and/or researcher in the field of pain, this term may sound familiar to you. Pain catastrophizing is often broadly conceived as an exaggerated mental mindset during painful experiences (1). It has been identified as an important and consistent psychosocial predictor of almost every significant pain-related outcome.
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