Classically conditioned modulation of pain depends on stimulus intensity.

Innocuous cues that become associated with pain can enhance pain. This is termed classically conditioned hyperalgesia. The size of this effect varies under different conditions.

Modernising tactile acuity assessment; clinimetrics of semi-automated tests and effects of age, sex and anthropometry on performance.

Background: Reduced tactile acuity has been observed in several chronic pain conditions and has been proposed as a clinical indicator of somatosensory impairments related to the condition. As some interventions targeting these impairments have resulted in pain reduction, assessing tactile acuity may have significant clinical potential. While two-point discrimination threshold (TPDT) is a popular method of assessing tactile acuity, large measurement error has been observed (impeding responsiveness) and its validity has been questioned.

Description and psychometric properties of a prototype to test tactile acuity in the neck.

Background: Clinical tools assessing tactile acuity in people with persistent pain have limitations. Therefore, a novel and semi-automated tool was developed: The Imprint Tactile Acuity Device (iTAD).

Aim: To describe the iTAD prototype and present the psychometric properties of its tactile acuity assessments: the localisation test, the orientation test and the overall score (mean of both tests).

Learning to predict pain: differences in people with persistent neck pain and pain-free controls.

Background: Learning to predict threatening events enables an organism to engage in protective behavior and prevent harm. Failure to differentiate between cues that truly predict danger and those that do not, however, may lead to indiscriminate fear and avoidance behaviors, which in turn may contribute to disability in people with persistent pain. We aimed to test whether people with persistent neck pain exhibit contingency learning deficits in predicting pain relative to pain-free, gender-and age-matched controls.