Different ways to reach the same goal: Are the analgesic effects of different types of tactile stimuli similar?

Background: Tactile-induced analgesia (TIA) is a phenomenon in which different types of tactile stimulation alleviate pain via different mechanisms including empathy. As TIA plays an essential role in therapeutic situations and clinical conditions, it is crucial to determine whether specific tactile stimulations confer distinct benefits.

Methods: Fifty-two subjects (31 females; 21-47 years) were exposed to four distinct experimental conditions involving three types of touch provided within a simulated supportive therapeutic setting.

Vagal tone, pain sensitivity and exercise-induced hypoalgesia: The effect of physical activity level.

Background: Vagal activity has analgesic effects that are attributed to exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH). High vagal tone and low pain sensitivity are reported in individuals who routinely exercise yet, their association is unclear. Furthermore, it is unknown if the heightened vagal tone following high physical activity predicts and intensifies EIH.

Quantitative Dynamic Allodynograph-A Standardized Measure for Testing Dynamic Mechanical Allodynia in Chronic Limb Pain.

Background: Dynamic mechanical allodynia (DMA) is both a symptom and a central sensitization sign, yet no standardized method for quantifying the DMA area has been reported. This study aimed to establish psychometric properties for (), a newly developed protocol measuring the DMA area as a percentage of the body surface.

Methods: Seventy-eight patients aged 18-65 diagnosed with chronic complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) participated in this study.

Time since onset might be of essence: A recommendation to assess the effects of combination of non-pharmacological neuromodulatory approaches at early stage since symptoms onset.

In the past decade researchers began to assess the potential beneficial effects of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) combined with a behavioral task as a treatment approach for various medical conditions. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the motor cortex combined with another treatment approach has been assessed as analgesic treatment in neuropathic and non-neuropathic pain conditions, and was found to exert only modest pain relief. Our group results show that combined tDCS and mirror therapy dramatically reduced acute phantom limb pain intensity with long-lasting effects, potentially preventing pain chronification.

Indifference or hypersensitivity? Solving the riddle of the pain profile in individuals with autism.

Excitatory-inhibitory (E/I) imbalance is a mechanism that underlies autism spectrum disorder, but it is not systematically tested for pain processing. We hypothesized that the pain modulation profile (PMP) in autistic individuals is characterized by less efficient inhibitory processes together with a facilitative state, indicative of a pronociceptive PMP. Fifty-two adults diagnosed with autism and 52 healthy subjects, age matched and sex matched, underwent quantitative sensory testing to assess the function of the (1) pain facilitatory responses to phasic, repetitive, and tonic heat pain stimuli and (2) pain inhibitory processes of habituation and conditioned pain modulation.

Central Sensitization and Psychological State Distinguishing Complex Regional Pain Syndrome from Other Chronic Limb Pain Conditions: A Cluster Analysis Model.

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) taxonomy has been updated with reported subtypes and is defined as primary pain alongside other chronic limb pain (CLP) conditions. We aimed at identifying CRPS clinical phenotypes that distinguish CRPS from other CLP conditions. Cluster analysis was carried out to classify 61 chronic CRPS and 31 CLP patients based on evoked pain (intensity of hyperalgesia and dynamic allodynia, allodynia area, and after-sensation) and psychological (depression, kinesiophobia, mental distress, and depersonalization) measures.

Resting-state functional connectivity predicts motor cortex stimulation-dependent pain relief in fibromyalgia syndrome patients.

MRI-based resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) has been shown to predict response to pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for chronic pain, but not yet for motor cortex transcranial magnetic stimulation (M1-rTMS). Twenty-seven fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients participated in this double-blind, crossover, and sham-controlled study. Ten daily treatments of 10 Hz M1-rTMS were given over 2 weeks.

Opening a window into the riddle of misophonia, sensory over-responsiveness, and pain.

Introduction: Misophonia and sensory over-responsiveness (SOR) share physiological and psychological symptoms. While individuals with SOR demonstrate pain perception alterations, these were not explored in misophonia.

Methods: This exploratory study comprised thirty healthy adults with ( = 15; based on the Misophonia Questionnaire) and without misophonia.

Susceptibility to movement-evoked pain following resistance exercise.

Objective: To investigate the: (1) role of basic muscle pain sensitivity and psychological factors in the prediction of movement-evoked pain (MEP) following delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and (2) association of MEP with changes in systemic muscle pain sensitivity following DOMS induction.

Methods: Fifty-one participants were assigned to either eccentric resistance exercise or control groups. They completed questionnaires evaluating psychological distress and underwent muscle pain sensitivity evaluation by the pressure pain threshold (PPT) test at the exercised and remote muscles, before and 24 hours following the intervention.

"When I'm in Pain, Everything Is Overwhelming": Implications of Pain in Adults With Autism on Their Daily Living and Participation.

Pain sensation in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been a growing research field in the last two decades. Existing pain research has focused on pain sensitivity, suggesting either hyposensitivity or hypersensitivity to pain in individuals with ASD. However, research about other aspects of pain experience is scarce.

Clinical Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of the Motor Cortex Are Associated With Changes in Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Patients With Fibromyalgia Syndrome.

In this double-blinded, sham-controlled, counterbalanced, and crossover study, we investigated the potential neuroplasticity underlying pain relief and daily function improvements following repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex (M1-rTMS) in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients. Specifically, we used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine changes in brain structural and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) that correlated with improvements in FMS symptomology following M1-rTMS. Twenty-seven women with FMS underwent real and sham treatment series, each consisting of 10 daily treatments of 10Hz M1-rTMS over 2 weeks, with a washout period in between.

Personalized Biometrics of Physical Pain Agree with Psychophysics by Participants with Sensory over Responsivity.

The study of pain requires a balance between subjective methods that rely on self-reports and complementary objective biometrics that ascertain physical signals associated with subjective accounts. There are at present no objective scales that enable the personalized assessment of pain, as most work involving electrophysiology rely on summary statistics from a priori theoretical population assumptions. Along these lines, recent work has provided evidence of differences in pain sensations between participants with Sensory Over Responsivity (SOR) and controls.

An Exploratory Study Testing Autonomic Reactivity to Pain in Women with Sensory Over-Responsiveness.

Background: Difficulty modulating sensory input related to multi-sensory integration dysfunction, specifically the sensory over-responsive (SOR) type, is associated with psychological distress and hyperalgesia in children and adults. Scares reports suggest atypical autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity to innocuous sensory stimuli in children with SOR. Thus, the ANS may contribute to sensory stimuli responses and psychological distress.

Structural abnormalities in the temporalis musculo-aponeurotic complex in chronic muscular temporomandibular disorders.

Some forms of chronic pain are thought to be driven and maintained by nociceptive input, which can drive plasticity within nociceptive pathways. We have previously identified abnormalities along the entire nociceptive pathway in chronic myalgic temporomandibular disorders (mTMD), including the trigeminal nerves, brainstem pathways, and in the thalamus and somatosensory cortex. These data suggest that there is a peripheral nociceptive drive in mTMD, but the source of this nociceptive activity remains unknown.

A dual-brain approach for understanding the neuralmechanisms that underlie the comforting effects of social touch.

Across different cultures, social touch is used to alleviate distress. Here we adopt a dual-brain approach with fMRI to examine whether social touch involves similar activations between the suffering 'target' and the empathizer in brain regions related to emotional sharing such as the observation-execution (mirror) network. To inspect the neural underpinnings of the effects of social touch on pain, we scanned romantic couples during a task that required one partner (the empathizer) to hold the target's hand as the latter experienced painful thermal stimulation.

How Does Myofascial Physical Therapy Attenuate Pain in Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome?

Background: Chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) is a multifactorial disorder comprising structural and functional muscular abnormalities, a dysfunctional pain system, and psychological distress. Myofascial physical Therapy (MPT) that is targeted at improving pelvic muscle functioning is considered a first line nonpharmacological treatment for CPPS, although the precise mechanisms that lead to symptoms alleviation have not yet been elucidated.

Purpose: This longitudinal study aimed to examine the local and systemic effects of MPT intervention, including biopsychophysiological processes, among CPPS patients.

The Endogenous Analgesia Signature in the Resting Brain of Healthy Adults and Migraineurs.

Altered pain modulation and resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) were found to be related to migraine pathology and clinical manifestation. We examined how pain modulation psychophysical measures are related to resting-state networks and rsFC between bottom-up and top-down pain modulation areas. Thirty-two episodic migraineurs and 23 age-matched healthy individuals underwent temporal summation of pain (TSOP) and conditioned pain modulation (CPM) tests, followed by a resting-state imaging scan.

The "virtual lesion" approach to transcranial magnetic stimulation: studying the brain-behavioral relationships in experimental pain.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can be used to create a temporary "virtual lesion" (VL) of a target cortical area, disrupting its function and associated behavior. Transcranial magnetic stimulation can therefore test the functional role of specific brain areas. This scoping review aims at investigating the current literature of the "online" TMS-evoked VL approach to studying brain-behavioral relationships during experimental pain in healthy subjects.

Sensory Modulation Disorder (SMD) and Pain: A New Perspective.

Sensory modulation disorder (SMD) affects sensory processing across single or multiple sensory systems. The sensory over-responsivity (SOR) subtype of SMD is manifested clinically as a condition in which non-painful stimuli are perceived as abnormally irritating, unpleasant, or even painful. Moreover, SOR interferes with participation in daily routines and activities (Dunn, 2007; Bar-Shalita et al.

Resting-State Electroencephalography in Participants With Sensory Overresponsiveness: An Exploratory Study.

Objective: People with sensory overresponsiveness (SOR) perceive nonpainful stimuli as noxious and demonstrate hyperalgesia and lingering sensation to laboratory pain stimuli. Electroencephalography (EEG) of cortical activity at rest is widely used to explore endophenotypes but has not yet been tested in people with SOR. Therefore, we investigated the characteristics of resting-state EEG in participants with SOR.

Do patients with interictal migraine modulate pain differently from healthy controls? A psychophysical and brain imaging study.

Studies in interictal migraine show either normal or impaired pain modulation, at the psychophysical level. To date, pain modulation in migraineurs has yet to be explored concurrent with imaging methods. We aimed to investigate brain activity associated with endogenous analgesia by functional magnetic resonance imaging in attack-free migraineurs.

Negative Illness Perceptions are Associated With a Pronociceptive Modulation Profile and Augmented Pelvic Pain.

Objectives: A patient's personal interpretations of a health threat or "illness perceptions" (IPs) are associated with their clinical outcomes. This study explored whether IPs are associated with pain severity and ability to modulate pain in women with chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS), as well as the predictive value of IPs on myofascial manual therapy (MMT) success.

Materials And Methods: Illness Perceptions Questionnaire-Revised (IPQ-R), mechanical and heat pain thresholds, mechanical temporal summation, and conditioned pain modulation (CPM) were evaluated in CPPS patients (n=39) before, and 3 months after MMT.

A Fast Track to Hypoalgesia - The Anaerobic Exercise Effect on Pain Sensitivity.

Maximal anaerobic exercise, is a short high intensity effort, involves activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, and may suggest hypoalgesic effects. In addition, this exercise-induced muscle pain may contribute to hypoalgesia via the pain inhibits pain phenomenon, which is related to the diffuse noxious inhibitory control (DNIC) mechanism. We aimed to investigate whether: 1) a single bout of 30 s maximal anaerobic exercise has an analgesic effect on experimental pain sensitivity; 2) DNIC is the underlying mechanism of anaerobic exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH).