The effect of a combined compression-tactile stimulating sock on postural stability.

Previous research has demonstrated that postural stability may be improved by increasing stimulation to the somatosensory system. Wearing lower limb compression garments or textured in-soles have been found to be effective short-term methods for improving postural stability, hypothesized to be due to enhanced tactile feedback. The aim of this study was to assess whether a combined compression-tactile sock increases postural stability in healthy adults, compared to barefoot.

Lumbar extension peak-torque, muscle endurance and motor imagery in junior-elite basketballers with and without a history of low back pain: a pilot study.

Objectives: Low back pain (LBP) is common in elite athletes. Several peripheral and central factors have been identified to be altered in non-athletic LBP populations, however whether these alterations also exist in elite athletes with LBP is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine whether elite basketballers with a history of persistent LBP perform worse than those without LBP at a lumbar muscle endurance task, a lumbar extension peak-torque task, and a lumbar motor imagery task.

Harnessing Children's Picture Books to Socialize Children About Pain and Injury: A Qualitative Study.

Pain experiences are common during childhood (eg, "everyday" pain, vaccine injections) and are powerful opportunities for children to learn about pain and injury. These experiences likely inform fundamental and life-long beliefs about pain. There is scant research investigating the sociocultural contexts in which children learn about pain and injury.

The clinical course of acute, subacute and persistent low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Understanding the clinical course of low back pain is essential to informing treatment recommendations and patient stratification. Our aim was to update our previous systematic review and meta-analysis to gain a better understanding of the clinical course of acute, subacute and persistent low back pain.

Methods: To update our 2012 systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched the Embase, MEDLINE and CINAHL databases from 2011 until January 2023, using our previous search strategy.

The effect of compression and combined compression-tactile stimulation on lower limb somatosensory acuity.

Background: Lower limb somatosensation and proprioception are important for maintaining balance. Research has shown that compression garments or exposure to textured surfaces, can enhance somatosensation however, little is known about the effect of combined compression and texture on somatosensory acuity in the lower limb. This study aimed to assess the effects of combined compression socks with a plantar textured sole, on lower limb somatosensory acuity.

We Are All in This Together-Whole of Community Pain Science Education Campaigns to Promote Better Management of Persistent Pain.

Persistent pain is a major public health issue-estimated to affect a quarter of the world's population. Public understanding of persistent pain is based on outdated biomedical models, laden with misconceptions that are contrary to best evidence. This understanding is a barrier to effective pain management.

Developing a multivariate prediction model of falls among older community-dwelling adults using measures of neuromuscular control and proprioceptive acuity: A pilot study.

Objective: To examine whether measures of neuromuscular control and proprioceptive acuity were predictive of falls in an older community-dwelling population and to develop a multivariate prediction model.

Methods: Fifty-eight adults aged above 60 living independently in the community were recruited for a prospective falls study. On entry, they undertook a Sensory Organisation Test (SOT) and an Active Movement Extent Discrimination Assessment (AMEDA) and completed a short fall risk questionnaire.

The Foundations for Chronic Low Back Pain Management may Start in Early Life. Exploring the Role of Caregiver Parental Leave on Future Low Back Pain in the Offspring.

Chronic low back pain is difficult to treat and despite increased spending on health services, clinical outcomes for people with low back pain have not improved. Innovative, large scale initiatives seem necessary to stem the cost of low back pain. Psychological health contributes to the development and persistence of chronic low back pain and psychological interventions are important in the management of low back pain.

Communicating with children about 'everyday' pain and injury: A Delphi study.

Background: 'Everyday' pain experiences are potentially critical in shaping our beliefs and behaviours around injury and pain. Influenced by social, cultural and environmental contexts, they form the foundation of one's understanding of pain and injury that is taken into adulthood. How to best communicate to young children about their everyday pain experiences, in order to foster adaptive beliefs and behaviours, is unknown.

Portrayals of Pain in Children's Popular Media: Mothers' and Fathers' Beliefs and Attitudes.

Evidence suggests that children's popular media may model maladaptive and distorted experiences of pain to young children. In a recent study, pain depicted in popular media targeting 4-6-year-olds was frequently and unrealistically portrayed, evoked little response or empathy from observing characters, and perpetuated unhelpful gender stereotypes. Parents play a critical role in both children's pain experiences and children's media consumption.

Daily surveillance of falls is feasible and reveals a high incidence of falls among older adults.

Objective: To ensure accurate data capture for a fall study through a system of daily contact with participants.

Methods: Fifty-eight adults older than 60 years of age and living independently in the community in Canberra, Australia, were recruited for a prospective fall study. We adopted a system of daily contact with study participants for at least 12 months, either by email or by text, asking whether they had suffered a fall in the previous 24 h.

Reliability and learning effects of repeated exposure to the Bertec Balance Advantage sensory organisation test in healthy individuals.

Background: The Sensory Organisation Test (SOT) of computerised dynamic posturography (CDP) is a well-established clinical test used to measure postural control. Advances in technology have enabled new CDP systems to use immersive virtual reality, such as the Bertec® Balance Advantage®. While the Bertec provides an innovative approach to posturography, the reliability and learning effects of the Bertec in administering the SOT has not been thoroughly investigated.

Assessing Proprioception in an Older Population: Reliability of a Protocol Based on Active Movement Extent Discrimination.

Proprioceptive ability - the sense of where body parts are located in space - is one of many factors thought to affect falls risk among the elderly. Active movement extent discrimination is an approach to measuring proprioception that is administered in an ecologically valid testing environment to better reflect the exercise of proprioceptive skills in daily life. The Active Movement Extent Discrimination Apparatus (AMEDA) was developed to objectively measure this proprioceptive discrimination.

Are You Listening? Facilitation of the Auditory Blink Response in People with Fibromyalgia.

The purpose of the current study was to determine whether auditory prepulse inhibition (PPI) and/or prepulse facilitation (PPF) were altered in people with fibromyalgia (FM) when compared with controls. Eyeblink responses were recorded from 29 females with FM and 27 controls, while they listened to 3 blocks of auditory stimuli that delivered pulses with either PPI or PPF. Using a linear mixed model, our main findings were that there was a GROUP*CONDITION interaction (F = 4.

Multimodal Sensory-Spatial Integration and Retrieval of Trained Motor Patterns for Body Coordination in Musicians and Dancers.

Dancers and musicians are experts in spatial and temporal processing, which allows them to coordinate movement with music. This high-level processing has been associated with structural and functional adaptation of the brain for high performance sensorimotor integration. For these integration processes, adaptation does not only take place in primary and secondary sensory and motor areas but also in tertiary brain areas, such as the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), providing vital resources for highly specialized performance.

Prevalence and incidence of phantom limb pain, phantom limb sensations and telescoping in amputees: A systematic rapid review.

Background And Objective: This systematic, rapid review aimed to critically appraise and synthesize the recent literature (2014-2019) evaluating the incidence and prevalence of post-amputation phantom limb pain (PLP) and sensation (PLS).

Databases And Data Treatment: Five databases (Medline, Embase, Emcare, PsychInfo, Web of Science) and Google Scholar were searched, with two independent reviewers completing eligibility screening, risk of bias assessment and data extraction.

Results: The search identified 1,350 studies with 12 cross-sectional and 3 prospective studies included.

Interrogating cortical representations in elite athletes with persistent posterior thigh pain - New targets for intervention?

Objectives: Hamstring injuries in athletes can lead to significant time away from competition as a result of persistent posterior thigh pain. These cases are often difficult to treat as the state of the tissues alone cannot explain symptoms. In non-athletic populations with persistent pain, disruptions to tactile, proprioceptive, and spatial cortical representations exist, which has led to promising brain-based treatments.

Commentary on "Effectiveness of motor imagery and action observation training on musculoskeletal pain intensity: A systematic review and meta-analysis" by Suso-Marti et al.

This journal recently published a paper by Suso-Marti et al., entitled "Effectiveness of motor imagery and action observation training on musculoskeletal pain intensity: A systematic review and meta-analysis" (2020). Motor imagery training and action observation training are rehabilitation approaches that involve imagining oneself executing a particular action, and watching actions that are performed by others, respectively.

Implicit motor imagery performance is impaired in people with chronic, but not acute, neck pain.

Background: People with chronic neck pain have impaired proprioception (i.e., sense of neck position).

Do People With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Have Impaired Motor Imagery? A Meta-analytical Systematic Review of the Left/Right Judgment Task.

The left/right judgment task (LRJT) is the most commonly used method of assessing motor imagery performance. Abnormally long response times are thought to reflect delayed processing of body/spatial representations, and poor accuracy is thought to reflect disrupted cortical proprioceptive representations or body schema. Slower and less accurate responses on the LRJT have been reported in a variety of chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions.

Spatially-defined motor deficits in people with unilateral complex regional pain syndrome.

Objective: Spatially-defined disruption of autonomic and sensory function has been identified in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). This study aimed to determine whether motor performance is also disrupted in a spatially-defined manner in people with CRPS.

Methods: Thirteen people with CRPS type 1 of the upper limb participated in two motor experiments.

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.