"Conditioned pain" remains unproven and unlikely (comment on Kang et al. PAIN 2023; 164: 2596-2605)
Two pages on PainSci cite Cohen 2024: 1. Chronic Pain as a Conditioned Behaviour 2. Can pain be conditioned? The plausibility and the evidence
PainSci notes on Cohen 2024:
A letter expressing strong criticism of Kang, arguing that the results were biased by the language. The substance of the letter is condensed into this bit of tweeting by co-author Asaf Klas Weisman, a PhD candidate (2023) at Tel Aviv University:
“I would change the name of the study to: ‘In search of conditioned pain: A monumental WASTE of time.’ The discussion of the authors who performed 3 different experiments is quite honest in admitting that they were not really successful and that the risk of reporting bias is too big. Additionally, they did not attempt to control demand characteristics (DC). Hence, the supposedly positive results in 2 experiments are suspected to be artifact of lack of control for DC.
So, even in light of “positive findings” in 2 out of three experiments, those results do not support the hypothesis. The idea of conditioned pain is nonsense.
In a follow-up comment, he suggests that more research is…
“…a waste of time because an experience cannot be conditioned. Do you think I can condition your experience of the color red to be green?”
The authors respond. They do not deny that they failed to control for demand characteristics, but dispute that it’s a serious flaw.
This is a strong disagreement between experts. As observers, we simply cannot know how informative Kang et al.’s experiment really was.
related content
- “In search of conditioned pain: an experimental analysis,” Kang et al, Pain, 2023.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Topical glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) and eccentric exercises in the treatment of mid-portion achilles tendinopathy (the NEAT trial): a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Kirwan 2024 Br J Sports Med.
- Placebo analgesia in physical and psychological interventions: Systematic review and meta-analysis of three-armed trials. Hohenschurz-Schmidt 2024 Eur J Pain.
- Recovery trajectories in common musculoskeletal complaints by diagnosis contra prognostic phenotypes. Aasdahl 2021 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
- Cannabidiol (CBD) products for pain: ineffective, expensive, and with potential harms. Moore 2023 J Pain.
- Moderators of the effect of therapeutic exercise for knee and hip osteoarthritis: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis. Holden 2023 The Lancet Rheumatology.