The Pain PT News

With COVID, there has naturally been an elevated sense of stress and fear for many. Those who have had a history of PTSD already have been shown to have a high rates of physical somatic symptoms. This…

Interesting study that supports what I see in many people with chronic somatic complaints. What this study showed was what we already know: potentially traumatic events can lead to post-traumatic stress…

Another reminder that sympathetic fight of flight nervous system is at the heart of chronic musculoskeletal pain like we see in fibromyalgia. This is study found "the higher the sympathetic drive to the…

A lot of the people I work with have an increased tendency to worry, whether it's about their symptoms or about things in life. Worry by itself can cause more somatic symptoms. I've linked a study below…

This study from 2020 https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/14/11/1147/5716281 shows how the role of accepting pain and negative emotions reduces the intensity of both these things. One of the primary…

A review study here highlighting how a stressed out brain and nervous system create chronification of pain. The HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal) axis in the brain (limbic brain) influences changes…

Continuing on the theme that most chronic disease is caused by an overactive sympathetic (fight, flight, freeze) nervous system and an inability to turn on and keep on the parasympathetic (rest, digest,…

We have clear evidence from heart rate variability studies that people with chronic pain are in the fight, flight or freeze autonomic nervous system state (sympathetic state) and have a hard time activating…

Wanted to share the new film called 'This Might Hurt'. My colleague and fellow PT Georgie Oldfield is showing a screening of this new film this weekend. I've included her invite below. I’m reaching…

One of the things that has consistently been popping up in the brain MRI research is the role of the amygdala in chronic pain and anxiety disorders. The amygdala is the center of negative emotions and…

The definition of pain is: "A sensory and emotional experience..." as defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). Emotions are a part of pain. Not many healthcare practitioners…

The prefrontal cortex is a part of our brain that controls what's called 'higher executive functioning'. This is the cognitive area of the brain that houses our conscious perception and decision making…

As a PT (physio) I realized a long time ago that we are not just mechanical bodies cut off from the mind at the neck, but that in fact, our brains and nervous systems have a greater impact on our bodies…

Psychotherapist Julie Markowitz and myself Jim Prussack PT are teaming up to offer a 8 week course on healing chronic pain and other chronic health ailments starting in January 2021. The course is titled:…

2019 study article looking at emotional repression and chronic inflammatory rheumatisms (CIR) ( rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis). It also highlights how adverse childhood experiences increase…

One of the interesting things with recent fMRI imaging studies of the brain is that we can see what's happening in the brain when there is pain. This study on acute pain also sheds light on the transition…

New research article titled: "Is lumbar fusion necessary for chronic low back pain associated with degenerative disc disease? A meta-analysis."  The short answer is "NO". The researchers came to this…

New study November 2020 that looked at 375 women coming to an inner city emergency department for acute pain.  They followed these people for 3 months. 162 people still had pain at the end of 3 months…

This is one of those research articles I refer to often. It's titled: 'Predicting transition to chronic pain'. What is so interesting about this research is they did brain scans at the time of an acute…