Functional pain: time for a new name
Three pages on PainSci cite Schechter 2014: 1. The Complete Guide to Chronic Tension Headaches 2. The 3 Basic Types of Pain 3. “Primary” versus “functional” pain
PainSci notes on Schechter 2014:
Schecter explains several problems with the term “functional pain disorder,” and particularly highlights its strong and ridiculous connotation of a psychological problem in modern usage. He proposes a tidier and more neutral description: “primary pain disorder.”
Therefore, a new neutral name is proposed for this category, primary pain disorders. This term arises from the headache field, where headaches are categorized as primary (the head pain itself is the central problem) or secondary (the headache is due to other factors such as increased intracranial pressure or infection, for example). The term primary pain disorder implies that the pain itself is the disease.
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.