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! Do TENS and friends 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.
- Jun 3: Enough with the gratuitous spinal steroid injections already (Member Post)
- May 29: A self-immolating desire for the truth
- May 26: Mild pain that never ends isn’t actually mild
- May 16: Pain rehab’s patient-blaming problem
- May 6: Every little bit helps? The opportunity cost thing
- INDEX of 1355 POSTS
What’s new? Article updates
A steady stream of content improvements and corrections are all logged, like on Wikipedia.
- Jun 5: neck pain +New section — The topic of epidural steroid injection is another member of the “interventional pain medicine” family and very closely related to the “block and burn” treatments discussed in other chapters. So for a long time this book just had light coverage of it along with those. But it is a distinct and common treatment, so it is particularly deserving of its own better-late-than-never chapter. And here it is at last — a major addition to the book.
The Complete Guide to Neck Pain & Cricks - Jun 5: low back pain +New section — The topic of epidural steroid injection is another member of the “interventional pain medicine” family and very closely related to the “block and burn” treatments discussed in other chapters. So for a long time this book just had light coverage of it along with those. But it is a distinct treatment … and extremely widely prescribed, so it is particularly deserving of its own better-late-than-never chapter. And here it is at last — a major addition to the book, about 3000 words.
The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain - May 29: objectivity is overrated +Substantially rewritten on a whim. My creative attention was hijacked while adding the VanderMeer quote. So much for whatever else I was supposed to be doing this morning.
Objectivity is Overrated - May 27: fibromyalgia +Key point added, introduction — Added information about the “character” of fibromyalgia pain, what makes it so discombobulating and bothersome.
A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia - May 12: update to multiple pages +Another major under-the-hood upgrade: after twenty years of using a very weird, non-standard system for storing bibliographic data, I have finally cleaned that up and started using a modern and standard data storage system — putting an end to endless "well that's odd" moments while working. I knew the old bibliography engine like an old lover … that you cannot imagine living with ever again. It was fun while it lasted, but it was time to move on.The new way is faster, better in countless ways.
- 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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