Perspectives on community-based system change for people living with persistent pain: insights from developing the "Rethinking Pain service".

In this perspective article we advocate community-based system change for people living with persistent pain. Our view is that greater use of the voluntary and community sector, in partnership with the clinical sector, creates the conditions for a "whole person" approach to pain management, leading to greater personalised care for adults living with long-term pain whilst having the potential to ease some of the pressures on General Practitioners and other clinical services. We advocate pain care that is socially connected, meaningful within socio-cultural contexts and aligned with the principles of salutogenesis. We provide an example of a UK National Health Service (NHS) commissioned pain service called "Rethinking Pain" that operationalises this perspective. Led by the voluntary and community sector, Rethinking Pain works in partnership with the clinical sector to provide a central holistic pathway of care for people experiencing persistent pain. This is the first time that this model of care has been commissioned for persistent pain in this area of England. The Rethinking Pain service is underpinned by core values to work with people to manage their pain holistically. The Rethinking Pain team proactively engage with people in the community, actively approaching and engaging those who experience the biggest health inequalities. In this article we provide an overview of the context of pain services in the UK, the rationale and supporting evidence for community-based system change, and the context, pathway, values, goals, and aspirations of the Rethinking Pain service.

Efficacy of diadynamic currents as an adjunct to exercise to manage symptoms of knee osteoarthritis in adults: A randomized controlled clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of diadynamic currents administered prior to exercises on pain and disability in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. DESIGN: A randomized-controlled trial. SETTING: Special Rehabilitation Services in Taboão da Serra. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with bilateral knee osteoarthritis. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomly allocated to Group I (diadynamic currents and exercises; n = 30, 60 knees) or Group II (exercises alone; n = 30, 60 knees) and were treated three times a week for 8 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measures were change in knee pain evaluated by visual analog scale and disability Index Score (Lequesne). Secondary outcomes included change in mobility (Timed Up and Go test), range of motion (goniometer), muscle strength (dynamometer), a composite score for pain and disability (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis questionnaire), and a drug diary to measure consumption of rescue pain medication (paracetamol). All measurements were collected at baseline, 8 weeks, and 6 months from baseline (follow-up). RESULTS: There were 60 participants with a mean (SD) age of 63.40 (8.20) years. Between-group differences in the follow-up (8 weeks and 6 months) were observed for pain at rest, pain during activities of daily living and disability. There was improvement in Group I that was maintained for the three variables 6 months after treatment. Mean difference for pain at rest was -3.08 points (95% confidence interval -4.13; -2.02), p < 0.01 with an effect size of 1.4; mean difference for pain during activities of daily living was -2.40 points (95% confidence interval -3.34; -1.45), p < 0.01 with an effect size of 1.24; and mean difference for disability was -4.08 points (95% confidence interval -5.89; -2.26), p < 0.01 with an effect size of 1.04. CONCLUSION: Patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis receiving 8 weeks of treatment with diadynamic currents as an adjunct to a program of exercises had significantly greater improvements in pain and disability than those receiving exercises alone. Beneficial effects were sustained for 6 months.

Incorporating personal narratives in positive psychology interventions to manage chronic pain.

In this perspective paper, we argue for incorporating personal narratives in positive psychology interventions for chronic pain. Narratives refer to the telling and retelling of events. Narratives detail accounts of events and provide rich, in-depth information on human interactions, relationships, and perspectives. As such, narratives have been used to understand people's experiences with pain and pain coping mechanisms-as well as to facilitate therapeutic outcomes. Furthermore, narrative research has shown that narration can help restore and promote relief, calm, hope, self-awareness, and self-understanding in chronic pain sufferers. Positive psychology interventions have been successful in improving the lives of people living with chronic pain, but these psychology interventions do not typically incorporate personal narratives. Still, narrative, and positive psychology scholarship foci overlap, as both aim to enhance people's quality of life, happiness, and well-being, and to promote the understanding of psychosocial strengths and resources. In this article, we provide a rationale for incorporating personal narratives as an agentic form of positive psychology intervention. To that aim, we outline areas of convergence between positive psychology and narrative research and show how combining positive psychology exercises and narration can have additive benefits for pain sufferers. We also show how integrating narration in positive psychology intervention research can have advantages for healthcare research and policy.

Perspectives on the insidious nature of pain metaphor: we literally need to change our metaphors.

Metaphorical language is used to convey one thing as representative or symbolic of something else. Metaphor is used in figurative language but is much more than a means of delivering "poetic imagination". A metaphor is a conceptual tool for categorising, organizing, thinking about, and ultimately shaping reality. Thus, metaphor underpins the way humans think. Our viewpoint is that metaphorical thought and communication contribute to "painogenicity", the tendency of socio-ecological environments (settings) to promote the persistence of pain. In this perspectives article, we explore the insidious nature of metaphor used in pain language and conceptual models of pain. We explain how metaphor shapes mental organisation to govern the way humans perceive, navigate and gain insight into the nature of the world, i.e., creating experience. We explain how people use metaphors to "project" their private sensations, feelings, and thoughts onto objects and events in the external world. This helps people to understand their pain and promotes sharing of pain experience with others, including health care professionals. We explore the insidious nature of "warmongering" and damage-based metaphors in daily parlance and demonstrate how this is detrimental to health and wellbeing. We explore how metaphors shape the development and communication of complex, abstract ideas, theories, and models and how scientific understanding of pain is metaphorical in nature. We argue that overly simplistic neuro-mechanistic metaphors of pain contribute to fallacies and misnomers and an unhealthy focus on biomedical research, in the hope of developing medical interventions that "prevent pain transmission [sic]". We advocate reconfiguring pain language towards constructive metaphors that foster a salutogenic view of pain, focusing on health and well-being. We advocate reconfiguring metaphors to align with contemporary pain science, to encourage acceptance of non-medicalised strategies to aid health and well-being. We explore the role of enactive metaphors to facilitate reconfiguration. We conclude that being cognisant of the pervasive nature of metaphors will assist progress toward a more coherent conceptual understanding of pain and the use of healthier pain language. We hope our article catalyses debate and reflection.

Past Adversity Influencing Now (PAIN): perspectives on the impact of temporal language on the persistence of pain.

Persistent pain is a significant healthcare issue, often unresponsive to traditional treatments. We argue for incorporating non-biomedical perspectives in understanding pain, promoting more comprehensive solutions. This article explores how language, specifically time-related terms, may affect the persistence (stickiness) of pain. We delve into how language influences one's experience of the world, especially in understanding pain through spatial metaphors. Notably, time perceptions differ across languages and cultures and there is no absolute construct of temporal pain experience. In English, time is viewed linearly as past, present, and future. We introduce a framework called Past Adversity Influencing Now (PAIN) which includes various temporal phases of pain; Past Perfect, Past Imperfect, Present, Future Imperfect, and Future Perfect. We suggest that past negative memories (emotional memory images) can "trap" individuals in a "sticky" pain state. We speculate that the process of diagnosing pain as "chronic" may solidify this "stickiness", drawing from the ancient Greek idea of "logos", where pain communicates a message across time and space needing recognition. Our PAIN framework encourages examining pain through a temporal lens, guiding individuals towards a more positive future.

Perspective on salutogenic approaches to persistent pain with a focus on mindfulness interventions.

In this article, we provide a unique perspective on the use of mindfulness interventions in a whole health framework embedded within the theory of salutogenesis and the concept of painogenic environments. We argue that mindfulness is a valuable tool to bridge exploration of inner experiences of bodily pain with socio-ecological influences on thoughts and emotions. We outline research from neuroimaging studies that mindfulness techniques mediate neural processing and neuroplastic changes that alleviate pain and related symptoms. We also review evidence examining behavioural changes associated with mindfulness meditation providing evidence that it promotes self-regulatory activity, including the regulation and control of emotion and catalysation of health behaviour changes; both of which are important in chronic illness. Our viewpoint is that mindfulness could be a core element of salutogenic approaches to promote health and well-being for people living with pain because it rebuilds a fractured sense of cohesion. Mindfulness empowers people in pain to embrace their existence; shifting the focus away from pain and giving their lives meaning. We propose that integrating mindfulness into activities of daily living and individual or community-based activities will promote living well in the modern world, with or without pain; thus, promoting individual potential for fulfilment. Future research should consider the effects of mindfulness on people with pain in real-life settings, considering social, environmental, and economic factors using a broader set of outcomes, including self-efficacy, sense of coherence and quality of life.

Perspectives on emotional memory images and the persistence of pain.

Multiple influences prevent recovery from pain. Our viewpoint is that non-conscious emotional memory images (EMIs) triggers outdated stress responses contributing to the intractability of pain. In this perspectives article we explore the concept that EMIs contribute to the persistence of pain. We contend that psychophysiological "stress" responses, resulting from first-time, novel and unprecedented pernicious or adverse events form EMIs within very short time frames (split-second learning). Subsequently, these EMIs are re-triggered in daily living, "re-playing" stress responses. We postulate that EMIs continually "raise the alarm" to socio-ecological stimuli by re-triggering the HPA-axis and amplifying neural input associated with threat, fear, anxiety, and pain, creating a debilitating state of psychophysiological dis-ease. We position the EMI within a philosophical debate on the nature and locus of memory and explain how the EMI, irrespective of whether it is a "thing" or a metaphor, can create a basis of understanding for the client to grasp. We describe a therapeutic approach (Split-Second Unlearning) to "clear" EMIs and the "stickiness" of pain and help people embark on a healing journey. This involves surveillance of clients for micro-expression(s) signifying an in-the-moment stress response, representative of the presence of an EMI, and encouraging the client to become a curious observer within/of their own experience. This helps the client detach their EMI from its stress response. We contend that this occurs rapidly without the need to get bogged down in a whole-life narrative. We advocate further exploration of our EMI model of dis-ease in the context of intractable pain.

Broadening the lens through which we view pain and its management: an interview with Mark Johnson.

Mark Johnson, PhD is Professor of Pain and Analgesia and Director of the Centre for Pain Research at Leeds Beckett University. Having initially trained as a neurophysiologist, Professor Johnson has expanded his research into the science of pain and its management, leading a team of pain scholars at the university. His research covers a wide range of topics including studying the effects of nonpharmacological interventions (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation [TENS], acupuncture, low-level laser therapy and Kinesio tape) for pain management, individuality and pain, epidemiology of pain and more recently health promotion and pain. His expertise spans a range of research methodologies including evidence syntheses such as meta-ethnography and meta-analysis including Cochrane Reviews, as well as conducting clinical trials and laboratory studies. In addition to his research, Professor Johnson is involved in pain education for healthcare professionals, patients, and the general public to provide people with up-to-date knowledge for a better understanding of the science of pain and its management.

Pain through the perspective of art and creativity: insights from the Unmasking Pain project.

People struggle to tell their story of living with pain and when they do it is articulated in a way that may not be understood, heard or taken seriously. Unmasking Pain is an artist-led project that explored creative approaches to tell stories of life with pain. The project was led by a dance theatre company that specialises in storytelling and emotional experiences for players and audiences. The project involved artists and people living with ongoing pain co-creating activities and environments to curiously explore "oneself", through imagination and creative expression. This article discusses insights and perspectives emerging from the project. The project revealed the power of art to make-sense of oneself with or without pain, and how art facilitates expression of complex inner experience and personal stories. People described Unmasking Pain as "explorative joy despite pain", and "a new set of rules" that contrasts with those experienced during clinical encounters. We discuss how art has the potential to improve clinical encounters and promote health and well-being, and whether artist-led activities are an intervention, therapy, or something else. Pain rehabilitation specialists from the project described Unmasking Pain as "freeing-up thinking", allowing conceptual thought beyond the biopsychosocial model of pain. We conclude that art has the potential to shift people living with pain from "I can't do, I am not willing to do it" to "Perhaps I can, I'll give it a go, I enjoyed".

Understanding pain in modern society: insights from attitudes to pain in the Medieval Period.

Historical records provide knowledge about the way people lived in the past. Our perspective is that historical analyses of the Medieval Period provide insights to inform a fuller understanding of pain in the present era. In this article, we appraise critiques of the writings of people living with pain during the mid (high) to late Medieval Period (c. 1,000-1,500 AD) to gain insights into the nature, attitudes, lived experience, and sense-making of pain. In the Medieval Period, pain was understood in terms of Galen's four humours and the Church's doctrine of pain as a "divine gift", "punishment for sin" and/or "sacrificial offering". Many treatments for pain were precursors of those used in modern time and society considered pain to be a "shared experience". We argue that sharing personal stories of life is a fundamental human attribute to foster social cohesion, and that nowadays sharing personal stories about pain is difficult during biomedically-focussed time-constrained clinical consultations. Exploring pain through a medieval lens demonstrates the importance of sharing stories of living with pain that are flexible in meaning, so that people can connect with a sense of self and their social world. We advocate a role for community-centred approaches to support people in the creation and sharing of their personal pain stories. Contributions from non-biomedical disciplines, such as history and the arts, can inform a fuller understanding of pain and its prevention and management.

A qualitative study to explore the acceptability and feasibility of implementing person-focused evidence-based pain education concepts in pre-registration physiotherapy training.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to engage with physiotherapy clinicians, academics, physiotherapy students and patients to explore the acceptability, feasibility, and practical considerations of implementing person-focused evidence-based pain education concepts, identified from our previous research, in pre-registration physiotherapy training. Design: This qualitative study took a person-focused approach to ground pain education in the perspectives and experiences of people who deliver and use it. Data was collected via focus groups and in-depth semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed using the seven stage Framework approach. Setting: Focus groups and interviews were conducted either face to face, via video conferencing or via telephone. This depended on geographical location, participant preference, and towards the end of data collection the limitations on in-person contact due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Participants: UK based physiotherapy clinicians, physiotherapy students, academics and patients living with pain were purposively sampled and invited to take part. Results: Five focus groups and six semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-nine participants. Four key dimensions evolved from the dataset that encapsulate concepts underpinning the acceptability and feasibility of implementing pain education in pre-registration physiotherapy training. These are (1) make pain education authentic to reflect diverse, real patient scenarios, (2) demonstrate the value that pain education adds, (3) be creative by engaging students with content that requires active participation, (4) openly discuss the challenges and embrace scope of practice. Conclusions: These key dimensions shift the focus of pain education towards practically engaging content that reflects people experiencing pain from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. This study highlights the need for creativity in curriculum design and the importance of preparing graduates for the challenges that they will face in clinical practice.

Hidden family rules: perspective on a dysfunctional paternalistic system and the persistence of pain.

This article explores how paternalistic control and power reside within the family system and how this may influence pain and its persistence. Drawing upon clinical case studies and existing literature, this exploration emphasises the role of paternal dysfunction in creating emotional memory images and delves into how this may influence the chronification and treatment resistance of pain (i.e., making pain "sticky"). We argue that a dysfunctional paternalistic family system, often characterised by authoritarian dynamics, emotional neglect, and abuse, results in adverse experiences and emotional memory images that create a fertile ground for the entrenchment and propagation of psychosomatic symptoms, including pain. Further, the paper emphasizes the potential intergenerational effects of such a scenario, where inherited "Family Rules" drive maladaptive coping mechanisms, which contribute to the persistence of psychological and physiological distress across generations. Understanding these complexities offers new perspectives on treating psychological disorders and their physiological ramifications. It also highlights the urgency of addressing dysfunctional familial dynamics in psychotherapeutic interventions for both immediate and long-term psychophysiological health outcomes.

Primary Periphyseal Stress Injuries of the Fingers in Adolescent Climbers: A Critical Review.

ABSTRACT: The worldwide rise in popularity of climbing and development of climbing as a competitive sport is reflected by its debut at the 2021 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. Digital primary periphyseal stress injuries in adolescent climbers may pose a significant risk to long-term skeletal health. The aim of this article is to critically review research on the diagnosis and management of primary periphyseal stress injuries of the fingers in adolescent climbers. We adopted a systematic approach to searching for relevant literature. Articles were identified after searches of the following electronic databases: Discover, Academic Search Complete, PubMed, Embase, SPORTDiscus, and ScienceDirect. Conclusive evidence suggests digital primary periphyseal stress injuries are a consequence of repetitive microtrauma. Pain reported by adolescent climbers on the dorsal aspect of the proximal interphalangeal joint should be investigated promptly to avoid serious negative consequences. Clinicians should be aware of the efficacy of imaging techniques to inform a clinical diagnosis. A conservative management approach is preferred but in rare cases surgical intervention may be necessary. A diagnostic and therapeutic algorithm for digital primary periphyseal stress injuries is presented.

Definition and attributes of the emotional memory images underlying psychophysiological dis-ease.

Background: Previously, we proposed a "Split-second Unlearning" model to explain how emotional memories could be preventing clients from adapting to the stressors of daily living, thus forming a barrier to learning, health and well-being. We suggested that these emotional memories were mental images stored inside the mind as 'emotional memory images' (EMIs). Objective: To elaborate on the nature of these emotional memory images within the context of split-second learning and unlearning and the broader field of psychoanalysis, to initiate a conversation among scholars concerning the path that future healthcare research, practice, and policy should take. Method: A narrative review of the attributes of EMIs utilizing relevant and contentious research and/or scholarly publications on the topic, facilitated by observations and approaches used in clinical practice. Results: We propose a refined definition of EMIs as Trauma induced, non-conscious, contiguously formed multimodal mental imagery, which triggers an amnesic, anachronistic, stress response within a split-second. The systematic appraisal of each attribute of an EMI supports the idea that the EMI is distinct from similar entities described in literature, enabling further sophistication of our Split-second Unlearning model of psychophysiological dis-ease. Conclusion: Exploration of the concept of EMIs provides further insight on mechanisms associated with psychophysiological dis-ease and opportunities for therapeutic approaches.

A healthy settings approach to addressing painogenic environments: New perspectives from health promotion.

Structural approaches to promoting health focus on policies and practices affecting health at the community level and concentrate on systems and forces of society, including distribution of power, that foster disadvantage and diminish health and well-being. In this paper we advocate consideration of structural approaches to explore macro level influences on the burden of persistent pain on society. We argue that health promotion is an appropriate discipline to ameliorate painogenic environments and that a "settings approach" offers a crucial vehicle to do this. We encourage consideration of socio-ecological frameworks to explore factors affecting human development at individual, interpersonal, organizational, societal, and environmental levels because persistent pain is multifaceted and complex and unlikely to be understood from a single level of analysis. We acknowledge criticisms that the structural approach may appear unachievable due to its heavy reliance on inter-sectoral collaboration. We argue that a settings approach may offer solutions because it straddles "practical" and cross-sectorial forces impacting on the health of people. A healthy settings approach invests in social systems where health is not the primary remit and utilises synergistic action between settings to promote greater health gains. We offer the example of obesogenic environments being a useful concept to develop strategies to tackle childhood obesity in school-settings, community-settings, shops, and sports clubs; and that this settings approach has been more effective than one organisation tackling the issue in isolation. We argue that a settings approach should prove useful for understanding painogenic environments and tackling the burden of persistent pain.

Reconfiguring the biomedical dominance of pain: time for alternative perspectives from health promotion?

Strategies to reduce the burden of persistent pain in society are rooted in a biomedical paradigm. These strategies are located downstream, managing persistent pain once it has become a problem. Upstream activities that create social conditions to promote health and well-being are likely to help, yet health promotion discourse and research are lacking in pain literature. In this article, we argue that the subjective nature of pain has not sat comfortably with the objective nature of medical practice. We argue that the dominance of the biomedical paradigm, with a simplistic 'bottom-up' model of pain being an inevitable consequence of tissue damage, has been detrimental to the health and well-being of people living with persistent pain. Evidence from neuroscience suggests that bodily pain emerges as a perceptual inference based on a wide variety of contextual inputs to the brain. We argue that this supports community, societal and environmental solutions to facilitate whole-person care. We call for more salutogenic orientations to understand how people living with persistent pain can continue to flourish and function with good health. We suggest a need for 'upstream' solutions using community-based approaches to address cultural, environmental, economic and social determinants of health, guided by principles of equity, civil society and social justice. As a starting point, we recommend appraising the ways human society appreciates the aetiology, actions and solutions towards alleviating persistent pain.

Persistent pain is a major healthcare challenge. Most approaches to tackle pain involve medical treatments to relieve pain once it has become a problem. There has been little research into the role of activities that promote health and well-being on pain. We argue that there needs to be more research on how people living with persistent pain can continue to flourish and function with good health. We suggest that there needs to be more attention given to health promotion and community-based approaches to tackle persistent pain and that more research is needed on cultural, environmental, economic and social factors that influence pain.

Efficacy of prolonged application of low-level laser therapy combined with exercise in knee osteoarthritis: A randomized controlled double-blind study.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of prolonged low-level laser therapy application combined with exercise on pain and disability in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Special rehabilitation services. SUBJECTS: Forty-three participants with knee osteoarthritis. INTERVENTION: Following initial assessment, participants were randomly allocated to the Laser group (n = 22, 44 knees) and received low-level laser therapy while the Placebo group (n = 21, 42 knees) received placebo therapy three times a week for 3 weeks. Both groups then received low-level laser therapy combined with exercise three times a week for the following 8 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was change in knee pain and disability (Lequesne). Secondary outcomes included change in mobility (Timed Up and Go test), range of motion (goniometer), muscular strength (dynamometer), activity (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis questionnaire), and medication intake and relief. RESULTS: Mean (SD) age of participants was 63.02 (9.9) years. Pain scores at baseline, 3 weeks, 11 weeks, and 6 months follow-up were 9.1 (1.3), 2.6 (2.3), 0.2 (0.9), and 0.2 (0.8) for the Laser group and 9.5 (8.0), 7.7 (5.3), 5.6 (2.4), and 7.4 (5.0) for the Placebo group, respectively. Disability scores at baseline, 3 weeks, 11 weeks, and 6 months follow-up were 14.9 (4.7), 7.6 (4.8), 3.9 (4.2), and 3.5 (4.1) for the Laser group and 17.8 (14.7), 15.2 (11.5), 11.6 (6.4), and 15.8 (11.9) for the Placebo Group, respectively. CONCLUSION: In participants with osteoarthritis of the knee, the isolated application of low-level laser therapy in the initial 3 weeks and combined with exercises in the final 8 weeks reduced pain, disability, and intake of medication over a 6-month period.

Characterising the Features of 381 Clinical Studies Evaluating Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) for Pain Relief: A Secondary Analysis of the Meta-TENS Study to Improve Future Research.

Background and Objectives: Characterising the features of methodologies, clinical attributes and intervention protocols, of studies is valuable to advise directions for research and practice. This article reports the findings of a secondary analysis of the features from studies screened as part of a large systematic review of TENS (the meta-TENS study). Materials and Methods: A descriptive analysis was performed on information associated with methodology, sample populations and intervention protocols from 381 randomised controlled trials (24,532 participants) evaluating TENS delivered at a strong comfortable intensity at the painful site in adults with pain, irrespective of diagnosis. Results: Studies were conducted in 43 countries commonly using parallel group design (n = 334) and one comparator group (n = 231). Mean ± standard deviation (SD) study sample size (64.05 ± 58.29 participants) and TENS group size (27.67 ± 21.90 participants) were small, with only 13 of 381 studies having 100 participants or more in the TENS group. Most TENS interventions were 'high frequency' (>10 pps, n = 276) and using 100 Hz (109/353 reports that stated a pulse frequency value). Of 476 comparator groups, 54.2% were active treatments (i.e., analgesic medication(s), exercise, manual therapies and electrophysical agents). Of 202 placebo comparator groups, 155 used a TENS device that did not deliver currents. At least 216 of 383 study groups were able to access other treatments whilst receiving TENS. Only 136 out of 381 reports included a statement about adverse events. Conclusions: Clinical studies on TENS are dominated by small parallel group evaluations of high frequency TENS that are often contaminated by concurrent treatment(s). Study reports tended focus on physiological and clinical implications rather than the veracity of methodology and findings. Previously published criteria for designing and reporting TENS studies were neglected and this should be corrected in future research using insights gleaned from this analysis.