Research into the role of the brain in chronic pain
Body image means different things to different people. To many it refers to how one feels about one's body. To us, it refers to how one's body feels to oneself and how one perceives its shape, orientation, agency and ownership. Hopefully you can see that body image is critical to pain, because pain is, we reckon, necessarily felt in one's … [Read more...]
By Megan Auld In research and in clinical practice, I’m forever finding myself snagged on the details – missing the story by getting caught up with p-values, forgetting that the arm I’m treating is connected to a head. Which is perhaps why I remember so clearly when Lorimer first persuaded me to focus on treating the source of the … [Read more...]
Mindfulness is, it seems, in fashion. Every month there seems to be a new TV show or talkback hour on its wondrous curative powers. It made it into our Christmas Dinner Conversation and I am waiting for the mindfulness-branded t-shirts and environmentally friendly canvas shopping bags to emerge. Is it really that good? Well, fortunately there … [Read more...]
What is it about some clinicians? They just seem to get great results by doing almost nothing! Could that be true? What is that elusive x-factor? Well, fortunately for us, Laura von Bertouch has agreed to tell us about a paper she does read that covers exactly that. Here is what Laura had to say: There is no doubt that sports and business are … [Read more...]
Is it possible that a lack of centralisation reflects a predominance of centralisation? Well, the undisputed wrestling champion of physical therapy is wrestling with this very topic, having been motivated by an intruiging paper. Fortunately for BiM, John kindly agreed to write a post on it. Here it is: Here is a riddle for you. What word by … [Read more...]
Placebo effects are a great way to start a conversation, particularly if one is at a Clinical Trials Festival. Rather than being fascinated by the possibilities of the brain's internal capacities to influence its own outputs, some believe placebo effects are a nuisance and something to either ignored or removed. Well, as you will see from this … [Read more...]
I met a fellow called Max. He was impressive with his command of the facts. He does some cool studies. He's not one of the Luddies. And certainly not one of the hacks. That is what happens when one is a bit too low on sleep. Which I am. But Max is not. Max works in beautiful Oxford and has done some excellent work looking at the use of … [Read more...]
I had the honour of spending the past week with the brilliant and extremely pleasant folks of the Body in Mind group at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA). The type of work going on here is the definition of cutting edge in my opinion, and I’m sure I was only introduced to a small part of it. I’m calling it right here right now, look … [Read more...]
Professor Troels Jensen's clever group of researchers have published an interesting paper in the European Journal of Pain. We were thinking about writing a little spiel on it so you can get the idea and then we thought - what about asking the authors? So we did. Fortunately for us, Lise Gormsen, who has now got her PhD via this work, kindly … [Read more...]
This is yet another important study from the TREND group in the Netherlands. Bob van Hilten, one of that rare breed who is both terrifically successful and remarkably nice, a generous, physical and intellectual sequoia of a man, wrote this little blurb below. As far as my meagre resources can decipher, it provides good evidence that the most likely … [Read more...]
Hands-up who thinks a patient’s expectations influence how well they do in treatment? By Steve Kamper Nearly everyone? That’s no surprise. Research recently published by a group in the US reported on the relationship between expectation and outcome in a sample of back pain patients receiving physiotherapy. This is by no means the first time … [Read more...]
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