Item development and pre-testing of an Osteoarthritis Conceptualisation Questionnaire to assess knowledge and beliefs in people with knee pain.

Many people with osteoarthritis hold beliefs that physical activity is unhelpful or dangerous for their joints, despite high-level evidence suggesting otherwise. Recent advances in scientific understanding of osteoarthritis have led to new treatments that target an individual's understanding both of their condition and the importance of best-practice management strategies, such as physical activity. Conceptual change has been proposed as an important mechanism by which cognitive interventions, such as pain science education, may reduce pain and improve function.

The Sensation and Pain Rating Scale: easy to use, clear to interpret, and responsive to clinical change.

Background: The Sensation and Pain Rating Scale (SPARS) allows rating of non-painful as well as painful percepts. While it performs well in the experimental context, its clinical utility is untested. This prospective, repeated-measures study mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the utility and performance of the SPARS in a clinical context, and to compare it with the widely used 11-point NRS for pain.

Feasibility and pilot testing of a personalized eHealth intervention for pain science education and self-management for breast cancer survivors with persistent pain: a mixed-method study.

Purpose: Here, we describe the development and pilot study of a personalized eHealth intervention containing a pain science education program and self-management support strategies regarding pain and pain-related functioning in female survivors of breast cancer. First, we aimed to evaluate the eHealth intervention's acceptability, comprehensibility, and satisfaction; second, we aimed to assess its preliminary efficacy.

Methods: A mixed-method study design was used.

Treating persistent pain after breast cancer: practice gaps and future directions.

This paper discusses the growing problem of persisting pain after successful treatment of breast cancer and presents recommendations for improving pain-related outcomes for this group. We discuss the dominant treatment approach for persisting pain post-breast cancer treatment and draw contrasts with contemporary treatment approaches to persistent pain in non-cancer-related populations. We discuss modern application of the biopsychosocial model of pain and the notion of variable sensitivity within the pain system, moment by moment and over time.

Implicit Motor Imagery of the Foot and Hand in People with Achilles Tendinopathy: A Left Right Judgement Study.

Objective: To determine if impairment in motor imagery processes is present in Achilles tendinopathy (AT), as demonstrated by a reduced ability to quickly and accurately identify the laterality (left-right judgement) of a pictured limb. Additionally, this study aimed to use a novel data pooling approach to combine data collected at 3 different sites via meta-analytical techniques that allow exploration of heterogeneity.

Design: Multi-site case-control study.

Development and Psychometric Testing of the Japanese Version of the Fremantle Neck Awareness Questionnaire: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Purpose: Contemporary theories of pain suggest that how the body is perceived is central to the emergence of pain. The Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ) was developed to assess body-perception specific to the back in people with chronic low back pain. However, there is no comprehensive measure to quantify self-perception of the painful area in Japanese people with neck pain.

Development and validation of a shoulder-specific body-perception questionnaire in people with persistent shoulder pain.

Background: There is evidence that people with persistent shoulder pain exhibit findings consistent with the presence of sensorimotor dysfunction. Sensorimotor impairments can manifest in a variety of ways, and further developing our understanding of sensorimotor dysfunction in shoulder pain may improve current models of care. The Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ) has been developed to assess disturbed body perception specific to the back.

Development and preliminary validation of the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire for Clinicians.

Background and Aims Higher chronic pain acceptance is associated with lower pain and disability. Clinician beliefs are associated with patients' beliefs. This study therefore aimed to develop the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire for Clinicians (CPAQ-C) to measure clinicians' beliefs regarding the importance of levels of acceptance in patients with chronic pain, and to examine the questionnaire's psychometric properties.

Assessing Beliefs Underlying Rumination About Pain: Development and Validation of the Pain Metacognitions Questionnaire.

Metacognitions, which are beliefs about our own thinking processes, can modulate worry and rumination and thereby influence emotional distress. This study aimed to develop a self-report measure of unhelpful pain-related metacognitions which might serve as a clinical and research tool to better understand pain catastrophizing, a significant risk factor for adverse pain outcomes. Two phases of validation are presented.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for chronic pain - an overview of Cochrane Reviews.

Background: Chronic pain, considered to be pain lasting more than three months, is a common and often difficult to treat condition that can significantly impact upon function and quality of life. Treatment typically includes pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is an adjunct non-pharmacological treatment commonly recommended by clinicians and often used by people with pain.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for chronic pain - an overview of Cochrane Reviews.

Background: Chronic pain, considered to be pain lasting more than three months, is a common and often difficult to treat condition that can significantly impact upon function and quality of life. Treatment typically includes pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is an adjunct non-pharmacological treatment commonly recommended by clinicians and often used by people with pain.

Was That Painful or Nonpainful? The Sensation and Pain Rating Scale Performs Well in the Experimental Context.

In experiments on pain, participants are frequently exposed to nonpainful and painful stimuli; however, the conventional pain-rating scales lack a nonpainful range and a clear point of transition from nonpainful to painful events. The Sensation and Pain Rating Scale (SPARS) assesses the full stimulus intensity range, extending from no sensation (rating: -50) to worst pain imaginable (rating: +50), and it explicitly identifies pain threshold (rating: 0). Here, we tested the SPARS in 2 experiments by using laser heat stimuli to establish its stimulus-response characteristics (Experiment 1, N = 19, 13 stimulus intensities applied 26 times each across a 1-4 J range), and compared it to 0 to 100 scales that assess nonpainful (0: no sensation, 100: pain) and painful (0: no pain, 100: worst pain imaginable) events (Experiment 2, N = 7, 9 stimulus intensities applied 36 times each across a 1.

Clinimetric Testing of the Lumbar Spine Instability Questionnaire.

Background: The Lumbar Spine Instability Questionnaire (LSIQ) is a self-report measure of 15 items. Previous studies have used the LSIQ as a measure of clinical instability; however, a comprehensive evaluation of its clinimetric properties has not been conducted.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinimetric properties of the LSIQ in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain (LBP).

Rasch analysis suggested that items from the template for intervention description and replication (TIDieR) checklist can be summed to create a score.

Objective: The aim of this study was to construct and evaluate a summary score of reporting completeness based on the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR).

Study Design And Setting: We included 200 reports published in 2013 randomly selected from the Physiotherapy Evidence Database. We summed the scores for the 12 items for the intervention and control groups for each trial to create a summary score from 0 to 24.

Tactile acuity testing at the neck: A comparison of methods.

Background: Interest in measurement of tactile acuity in musculoskeletal practice has emerged following its link to functional reorganization of the somatosensory cortex in ongoing pain states. Several tactile acuity measurement methods have been described but have not been thoroughly investigated in the cervical region.

Objective: This study examined reliability, concurrent validity and responsiveness of four tests of tactile acuity-Two-point discrimination, Point-to-point, Graphesthesia, and Localisation tests-at the cervical region.

Development and psychometric properties of knee-specific body-perception questionnaire in people with knee osteoarthritis: The Fremantle Knee Awareness Questionnaire.

Background: Recent systematic reviews have demonstrated that pain associated with knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a complex phenomenon that involves various contributors. People with knee OA exhibit symptoms of impaired body-perception, including reduced tactile acuity, impairments in limb laterality recognition, and degraded proprioceptive acuity. The Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ) was developed to assess body-perception specific to the back in people with chronic low back pain.

Defensive reflexes in people with pain - a biomarker of the need to protect? A meta-analytical systematic review.

Upregulation of defensive reflexes such as the nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR) has been attributed to sensitisation of peripheral and spinal nociceptors and is often considered biomarkers of pain. Experimental modulation of defensive reflexes raises the possibility that they might be better conceptualised as markers of descending cognitive control. Despite strongly held views on both sides and several narrative reviews, there has been no attempt to evaluate the evidence in a systematic manner.

Validation of the Japanese Version of the Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire in Patients with Low Back Pain.

Background: There is a growing interest in the role of disturbed body perception in people with persistent pain problems such as chronic low back pain (CLBP). A questionnaire, the Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ), was recently developed as a simple and quick way of assessing disturbed perceptual awareness of the back in people with CLBP and appears to have acceptable psychometric properties. The aim of the present study was to develop a Japanese version of the FreBAQ (FreBAQ-J) and evaluate its psychometric properties in a sample of Japanese people with low back pain (LBP).

Clinical assessment of the impact of pelvic pain on women.

We aimed to develop a questionnaire that assesses the impact of pelvic pain on women, regardless of diagnosis, that has high utility, sound psychometric performance, easy scoring, and high reliability. Two studies, with 3 separate cohorts, were undertaken. Both studies were completed online.

The Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire: one or more dimensions?

Purpose: The Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) is one of the most recommended questionnaires to assess disability. Some previous studies support the assumption that the RMDQ is a unidimensional measure; however, recent studies have suggested that this measure has more than one domain and should be considered as a multidimensional scale. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse the structure of the RMDQ in a large sample of patients with low back pain using two different statistical approaches.

Disrupted Self-Perception in People With Chronic Low Back Pain. Further Evaluation of the Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire.

Unlabelled: Several lines of evidence suggest that body perception is altered in people with chronic back pain. Maladaptive perceptual awareness of the back might contribute to the pain experience as well as serve as a target for treatment. The Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ) is a simple questionnaire recently developed to assess back-specific altered self-perception.

The effect of repeated laser stimuli to ink-marked skin on skin temperature-recommendations for a safe experimental protocol in humans.

Background. Nd:YAP laser is widely used to investigate the nociceptive and pain systems, generating perpetual and laser-evoked neurophysiological responses. A major procedural concern for the use of Nd:YAP laser stimuli in experimental research is the risk of skin damage.

Neural representations and the cortical body matrix: implications for sports medicine and future directions.

Neural representations, or neurotags, refer to the idea that networks of brain cells, distributed across multiple brain areas, work in synergy to produce outputs. The brain can be considered then, a complex array of neurotags, each influencing and being influenced by each other. The output of some neurotags act on other systems, for example, movement, or on consciousness, for example, pain.