Illness behavior in patients on long-term sick leave due to chronic musculoskeletal pain

Patricia Olaya-Contreras; Jorma Styf
Background and purpose Methods for identification of patients with illness behavior in orthopedic settings are still being debated. The purpose of this study was to test the association between illness behavior, depressed mood, pain intensity, self-rated disability, and clinical status in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP).
Methods We examined 174 consecutive sick-listed [...]

A Novel Tool for the Assessment of Pain: Validation in Low Back Pain

Scholz J, Mannion RJ, Hord DE, Griffin RS, Rawal B, et al
Background
Adequate pain assessment is critical for evaluating the efficacy of analgesic treatment in clinical practice and during the development of new therapies. Yet the currently used scores of global pain intensity fail to reflect the diversity of pain manifestations and the complexity of underlying [...]

Chronic Back Pain Is Associated with Decreased Prefrontal and Thalamic Gray Matter Density

Apkarian AV, Sosa Y, Sonty S, Levy RM, Harden RN, Parrish TB, Gitelman DR.
The role of the brain in chronic pain conditions remains speculative. We compared brain morphology of 26 chronic back pain (CBP) patients to matched control subjects, using magnetic resonance imaging brain scan data and automated analysis techniques. CBP patients were divided into [...]

Stress-induced Physiologic Changes as a Basis for the Biopsychosocial Model of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A New Theory?

Finestone, Hillel M; Alfeeli, Aziz MBChB; Fisher, William A.
Objectives: (1) To integrate the scientific literatures of the biopsychosocial model of chronic musculoskeletal pain and of stress-induced physiologic wound and muscle changes, and (2) to propose a clinical assessment and treatment model that incorporates this dual literature into the management of chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Methods: English language [...]

Expertise Modulates the Perception of Pain in Others

Yawei Cheng, Ching-Po Lin and Ho-Ling Liu et al
Perceiving the pain of others activates a large part of the pain matrix in the observer. Because this shared neural representation can lead to empathy or personal distress, regulatory mechanisms must operate in people who inflict painful procedures in their practice with patient populations in order to prevent their distress [...]