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 detailed, evidence-based 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.
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: pain science news and highlights
The PainScience.com blog is the “director’s commentary” for the site.
- Oct 13: Painfully tongue-tied
- Oct 9: History? What history? An imaging foul [premium post]
- Oct 7: A more diplomatic massage interview
- Oct 6: Good posture causes (some) neck pain [STUDY]
- Oct 1: Body repair motions
- INDEX of 988 POSTS
What’s new? Article updates
A steady stream of content improvements and corrections are all logged, like on Wikipedia.
- Oct 14: massage for TMJ syndrome, bruxism, headaches +Added a short section about the (bogus) relationship between jaw pain and a tight lingual frenulum.
Massage Therapy for Bruxism, Jaw Clenching, and TMJ Syndrome - Oct 14: neck pain +New silly treatment, frenuloplasty — Added frenuloplasty to the hall of treatment shame.
The Complete Guide to Neck Pain & Cricks - Oct 14: muscle strains +Correction — I misinterpreted a study of the relationship between range of motion and recovery time. While the general principle was sound — greater ROM loss correlates strongly with recovery time) — my more specific “rule of thumb” based on it was a bit wonky. So I fixed that.
The Complete Guide to Muscle Strains - Oct 14: headaches +New chapter, tongue-ties as a cause of headache — Adapted from the recent blog post, with some substantive extra speculation about the plausibility of a tight frenulum causing headaches.
The Complete Guide to Chronic Tension Headaches - Oct 9: trigger points +Modernized — Dramatically improved the tone of the introduction to the “medical” section of the book with a healthy dose of skepticism. I’ve added what I hope is a persuasive warning about how easy and dangerous it is to start blaming things we don’t really understand.
The Complete Guide to Trigger Points & Myofascial 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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