In the spine or in the brain? Recent advances in pain neuroscience applied in the intervention for low back pain.

In the spine or in the brain? Recent advances in pain neuroscience applied in the intervention for low back pain. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2017 Sep-Oct;35 Suppl 107(5):108-115 Authors: Nijs J, Clark J, Malfliet A, Ickmans K, Voogt L, Don S, den Bandt H, Goubert D, Kregel J, Coppieters I, Dankaerts W Abstract Conservative, surgical and pharmacological strategies for chronic low back pain (CLBP) management offer at best modest effect sizes in reducing pain and related disability, indicating a need for improvement. Such improvement may be derived from applying contemporary pain neuroscience to the management of CLBP. Current interventions for people with CLBP are often based entirely on a "biomedical" or "psychological" model without consideration of information concerning underlying pain mechanisms and contemporary pain neuroscience. Here we update readers with our current understanding of pain in people with CLBP, showing that CLBP is not limited to spinal impairments, but is also characterised by brain changes, including functional connectivity reorganisation in several brain regions and increased activation in brain regions of the so-called 'pain matrix' (or 'pain connectome'). Indeed, in a subgroup of the CLBP population brain changes associated with the presence of central sensitisation are seen. Understanding the role of these brain changes in CLBP improves our understanding not only of pain symptoms, but also of prevalent CLBP associ...
Source: Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology - Category: Rheumatology Tags: Clin Exp Rheumatol Source Type: research