Effects of a training program on the autonomic nervous system and innate immune response in autoimmune disease/spondyloarthritis   July 8th, 2021
Excessive or persistent proinflammatory cytokine production plays a central role in autoimmune diseases. Research by Kox M. et al. (1,2) evaluated the effects of a training program on the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and innate immune response.
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Knee osteoarthritis: one size rarely fits all   December 1st, 2018
Successfully alleviating pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) or in patients with persisting pain after a total knee replacement (TKR) remains a huge challenge.
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INVITED BLOGPOST: A change of perspective: altered muscle activation in the ACL deficient individual   December 12th, 2017
Much of my early professional years were spent watching competitive sports. After 1-2 years in general practice I was hired by Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, as Assistant Athletic Trainer. Tulane University competed in Division I Athletics which meant that a majority of their student athletes attended on a ‘full-ride’ scholarship; our ability to keep them healthy was taken quite seriously.
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Can you as a clinician recognize the dominance of central sensitization in patients with knee osteoarthritis pain in your routine clinical practice?   November 6th, 2017
A universally accepted term for the phenomenon ‘central sensitization’ in humans is not available yet and a proof of this fact is that its use in scientific literature is still under debate (Kosek et al. 2016).
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Effect of joint mobilization on central pain processing in knee osteoarthritis   May 9th, 2016
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is predominately characterized by knee pain, which can lead to impaired physical function and decreased quality of life
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Central sensitization pain : Where are we now and which options do we have for treatment?   January 1st, 2015
Conventional rehabilitation for people with chronic pain is often unsuccessful and frustrating for clinicians. What it is becoming clear more and more is that new therapeutic approaches are needed in view of current understanding of neural mechanisms underpinning chronic pain. In this regard, three papers aiming to summarize the role of central sensitization in chronic musculoskeletal pain and looking for guide clinicians in the rehabilitation of patients with chronic pain have been recently published.
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Findings from a recent systematic review and meta-analysis: evidence suggests pain sensitization in people with knee osteoarthritis   January 1st, 2015
​Osteoarthritis (OA) is traditionally considered a progressive disorder of articular cartilage in the joint, yet increasing evidence suggests that at least in an important subgroup of patients with OA the clinical picture is dominated by sensitization of central nervous system pain pathways (i.e. central sensitization) rather than by structural dysfunctions causing nociceptive pain (reviewed by Lluch et al. 2013).
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Why does my knee still hurt after knee arthroplasty? Because they only treated your knee, not your central nervous system!   January 1st, 2015
​Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee has long time been considered as a structural pathology with a clear nociceptive explanation, resulting from joint degeneration. Nevertheless, recently awareness is growing for the involvement of the central nervous system in the amplification of pain in OA. This may explain why many patients still suffer chronic pain after surgery, long time after removal of the source of nociception.
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Altered central pain modulation pre-surgical might influence outcome after total knee replacement: a systematic review   January 1st, 2015
​Even though a total knee replacement is an effective surgical treatment for end-stage knee osteoarthritis and the majority of patients report significant pain relief and functional improvement post-surgical, literature shows that up to 20% of patients undergoing a total knee replacement are dissatisfied and complain of persisting pain, functional disability and poor QoL ( Scott et al. 2010).
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The balancing exercise of exercise prescription in chronic pain?   January 1st, 2015
​In a very recent review and clinical guideline of Heather Kroll, a nice overview is given about how exercise affects pain. But besides listing possible mechanisms of exercise induced analgesia, she reviews the therapeutic modalities and benefits for a wide variety of chronic pain diagnoses.
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Potentiating placebo-analgesia in clinical practice   January 1st, 2015
Manchikanti and colleagues (2011) make in their paper entitled ‘placebo and nocebo in interventional pain management: a friend or a foe – or simply foes?’ an argument for a revaluation of placebo effects in clinical practice. They make the claim that clinicians should not try to avoid the placebo effect, but should try to potentiate it, as this effect isn’t just unethical and mythical but must seen as a very real phenomenon, which can be understood from a vast body of both psychological and neurophysiological research.
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WILL COMPUTERS REPLACE THERAPISTS? THERAPEUTIC PAIN NEUROSCIENCE EDUCATION VIA E-MAIL   January 1st, 2014
Therapeutic pain neuroscience education (TPNE) is becoming increasingly popular as (part of) the treatment of (chronic) pain and aims at altering the patient’s thoughts and beliefs about pain. Previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of TPNE in the treatment of chronic pain. TPNE is mostly given in one-on-one sessions, which has limitations, as it is time intensive, cost intensive and limited to patients in remote areas. Pain in Motion previously showed that written TPNE does little to alter pain, pain cognitions or illness perceptions in patients with fibromyalgia.
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Tea with discussions about combining manual therapy with pain neuroscience education   January 1st, 2014
Interpreting scientific results in clinical practice can be, to say at least, challenging. Especially when it is somewhat contradictory to what you have heard during all those years of extensive training in both physiotherapy education and other courses. As one of my friends recently put it this way: ‘The more I learn about pain, the less I know and the more confused I get.’
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Combining pain neuroscience education with hands-on manual therapy in patients with osteoarthritis and central sensitization pain   January 1st, 2014
A systematic literature review recently showed that approximately 30% of patients with osteoarthritis have central sensitization pain, implying that their pain is dominated by central factors (i.e. the increased hyperexcitability of the central nervous system) rather than peripheral (i.e. joint) factors.
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Treatment Options for Central Sensitization Pain in Clinical Practice   January 1st, 2014
In 2011, Pain in Motion published a paper explaining to clinicians the various options we have for treating the mechanisms involved in central sensitization.
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Pain increases during walking in osteoarthritis related to central sensitization   January 1st, 2014
The April issue of Pain reports a sound study examining self-perceived pain changes during walking in patients with osteoarthritis. Pain in Motion previously reported that up to 30% of osteoarthritis patients have central sensitization, and this new study from U.S. researchers suggests a role for central sensitization in explaining pain changes during daily physical activities like walking
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Exercise therapy for rewriting pain memories? Applying graded exposure in vivo principles during exercise therapy for targeting the brain circuitries orchestrated by the amygdala   January 1st, 2014
Even though nociceptive pathology has often long subsided, the brain of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain has typically acquired a protective (movement-related) pain memory. Exercise therapy for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain is often hampered by such pain memories.
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