What works for stubborn aches, pains, and injuries?
And what doesn’t? And why? PainScience.com explores the surprisingly weird science of many kinds of chronic pain and injury, from fibromyalgia to runner’s knee. The site is a library of a couple hundred deep-dive articles for both patients and healthcare professionals, informal but heavily referenced and constantly updated for 20 years. Like it says on the tin, there’s a pro-science bias here, and quackery is kicked to the curb. More.
Why the salamander? More mascot than logo, the salamander’s astonishing regenerative biology is a symbol of healing. More.
The basic newsletter is free: 4-8 posts per month, many of them short, about anything useful or neat for patients or pros. Browse the archives. ❐
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What hurts? The most popular guides to specific conditions
- When to Worry About Neck Pain … and when not to! — Tips, checklists, and non-scary possible explanations for neck pain.
- A Deep Dive into Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness — The biology & treatment of the “muscle fever” that follows intense exercise.
- The Complete Guide to IT Band Syndrome — Everything you could possibly want to know about the most common type of runner’s knee.
- 6 Main Causes of Morning Back Pain — Why is back pain worst first thing in the morning?
- A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia — All about the mysterious disease of pain, exhaustion, and mental fog.
- Cramps, Spasms, Tremors & Twitches — The biology and treatment of unwanted muscle contractions.
- Complete Guide to Frozen Shoulder — Exploring one of the strangest of all common musculoskeletal conditions.
- INDEX of 52 CONDITION GUIDES
What works? The most popular treatment reviews
- Quite a Stretch — The most popular form of therapeutic exercise… has few actual benefits.
- Does Epsom Salt Work? — The science and mythology of Epsom salt bathing as a tonic for pain & injury.
- Trigger Point Therapy — All about the strange therapeutic art of… pressing on sore spots?
- Strength Training Frequency — Strength training is surprisingly efficient, good medicine.
- The Chiropractic Controversies — A tour of far too many chiropractic controversies.
- Does Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection Work? — Nope. The first popular “regenerative” therapy is bogus.
- Zapped! Does TENS work for pain? — Electrical stimulation is perpetually popular, which is weird.
- See also compilations of the most proven pain treatments, as well as a much wider range of more speculative options (but still safer and more plausible).
- INDEX of 92 TREATMENT REVIEWS
Yes, but why? Articles about key concepts and principles of pain
- Pain is Weird — Pain is trickster, a volatile and misleading sensation.
- Your Back Is Not Out of Alignment — Debunking the obsession with alignment and biomechanics.
- MRI Worse than Useless for Back Pain — The legacy of the false alarm machines!
- Is Running on Pavement Risky? — Hard-surface running might be a risk factor for running injuries. It’s surprising hard to tell.
- Sensitization — Pain can change how pain works… and never for the better.
- INDEX of 55 ARTICLES ABOUT CONCEPTS
The blog & newsletter: pain science news, highlights, and musings
The PainScience.com blog is the “director’s commentary” for the site.
- Jul 8: It’s the pacing
- Jul 5: A muscle tone measuring gadget
- Jun 27: AMG0103 rescues spinal discs in preliminary drug trial
- Jun 26: Menopause and pain, hormones and exercise: a beginning
- Jun 21: Can pain be learned? A major update
- INDEX of 1253 POSTS
What’s new? Article updates
A steady stream of content improvements and corrections are all logged, like on Wikipedia.
- Jul 5: low back pain +Major update, overview of professional help options — This intro to “getting professional help” contains a bunch of thumbnail sketches of treatment options that are review in more detail later on. They were all quite overdue for updates and revision. Half of them said things I stopped believing years ago! I also added chapter links, making the section into high quality annotated table of contents for this whole part of the book.
The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain - Jul 3: low back pain +New section —
The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain - Jun 28: mind over pain +Improvements, master list of all mind-over-pain topics — Added an significant footnote about pseudoscientific abuses of the concept of “neurplasticity.”
Mind Over Pain - Jun 28: unwanted muscle contractions +Added information about myotonometry — better late than never, after being strangely unaware of it for my entire career (which is now getting long). There is now a fairly substantial footnote about it, and I’m certainly interesting in learn and writing more about it … now that I know it exists. 😜
Cramps, Spasms, Tremors & Twitches - Jun 26: causes of pain +Clarified information about channelopathies and added information about small fibre neuropathy.
38 Surprising Causes of Pain - INDEX of MANY MORE UPDATES
You’ve got a lot of reading to do! Sorry it’s all here on the computer …
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