What’s New on PainScience.com?
New featured articles, updates to articles, recent blog posts, and noteworthy new scientific papers
See also the about page, complete articles index, and sitemap.
I have been expanding and upgrading this website for 20 years now, and full-time since 2010. Useful new references are added almost daily. I am always working on an endless list of improvements, and corrections and mea culpas are always the highest priority items. This page lists everything that’s new or changed lately. ~ Paul Ingraham, Publisher
The 15 newest featured articles on PainScience.com (out of 244)
- Reviews of Pain Professions » Aug 2020
- Chronic Pain and Inequality » Jun 2020
- Chronic Pain as a Conditioned Behaviour » May 2020
- “Windows of Opportunity” in Rehab » Mar 2020
- Vibration Therapy » Mar 2020
- The Role of “Spasm” in Frozen Shoulder » Mar 2020
- Reassurance for Massage Therapists » Feb 2020
- Vulnerability to Chronic Pain » Jun 2019
- Painful Lessons » Jun 2019
- Achilles Tendinitis Treatment Science » May 2019
- Does Massage Increase Circulation? » May 2019
- Baxter’s Neuritis and Plantar Fasciitis » Mar 2019
- Knee Replacement Surgery Doubts » Feb 2019
- Deep Cervical Flexor Training » Oct 2018
The last 50 updates to featured articles and tutorials
Like good footnotes, update logging sets PainScience.com apart from most other health websites and blogs. It’s fine print, but important fine print, in the same spirit of transparency as the editing history available for Wikipedia pages. I log any change to articles that might be of interest to a keen reader.
Current Update Stats — 50 updates to 32 articles & books in 87 days, breaking down into 19 major updates, 19 medium, 12 minor (use the button below to include/exclude the medium and minor updates). That’s an update every 1.7 days in recent history; there have been 1999 updates since comprehensive logging started in mid-2016,?Comprehensive update logging started in the summer of 2016. Prior to that, I only logged major updates for the most popular and controversial articles. and many tens of thousands since the early 2000s.
- Save Yourself from Plantar Fasciitis! — Science update, calf tightness — Substantially improved referencing, with some small but genuinely useful and interesting implications. Best kind of science update! » Aug 9
- Save Yourself from Plantar Fasciitis! — Science update, nature of the beast — Minor but interesting extra detail about exactly how common plantar fasciitis is (spoiler alert: very common). Upgraded referencing on the topic of plantar fascia thickness. » Aug 8
- Quite a Stretch — Reorganized — Split this mega-article up into four smaller ones. Three major sub-topics were exported to new pages. This article now provides a high-level summary, plus coverage of a few miscellaneous and minor subtopics that don’t fit anywhere else. There are now a total of 9 articles on PainScience.com specifically devoted to stretching. » Aug 7
- 5 Main Reasons Athletes Stretch… All Flawed — Editing — Content is like-new after being extracted from stretching mega-article and converted into a stand-alone article on the sub-topic of athletic goals for stretching. » Aug 7
- Stretching for Pain (and Pleasure) — Editing — Content is like-new after being extracted from stretching mega-article and converted into a stand-alone article on the sub-topic of stretching as a treatment for pain. » Aug 7
- Stretching for Flexibility — Editing — Content is like-new after being extracted from stretching mega-article and converted into a stand-alone article on the sub-topic of athletic goals for flexibility. » Aug 7
- Reviews of Pain Professions — Completely rebooted, truly “like new.” » Aug 3
- Kinesio Taping Review — Added short new section about some silly research: “Bemused scientific post script: does the colour of the tape matter?” Spoiler: no. » Aug 3
- Vibration Therapy — “Massage guns” were strangely missing from this article, as well as any discussion of their efficacy, so I corrected that. I also substantially revised everything to make this a more general article about the theme of vibration in both medicine and quackery. » Aug 1
- Chronic Pain and Inequality — Added a substantial section about the “myth of feminine fragility.” » Jul 27
- The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) — Science updated: cited Fuller et al about the relationship of pain to FMS scoring. Updated the conclusion to be more clearly negative, in tune with the steadily emerging evidence that FMS cannot predict injury risk. » Jul 24
- Electromagnetic Sensitivity Absurdity — Several minor improvements. Some detail was moved to foonotes. Added more information about the role of psychology in EMS. » Jul 24
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — Minor addition, introduction — Expanded on the summary of symptoms just a little, emphasizing the quality and potential severity of the pain. » Jul 20
- Anxiety & Chronic Pain — Minor new section: “Get a pet, probably a dog — they are people too, and those relationships are never toxic.” » Jul 18
- Save Yourself from Shin Splints! — Major improvements, structuralism summary — Substantial editing and elaboration. The chapter is now bigger and better. » Jul 18
- Save Yourself from Plantar Fasciitis! — Science update — Discussed some interesting new data on the clinical relevance of plantar fasciitis thickness. Do thicker soles mean you’re in worse trouble? Probably not. » Jul 13
- Save Yourself from Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome! — Addition — Added osteochondritis dissecans to the list of other diagnoses to consider. » Jul 11
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — New chapter, coat hanger pain — » Jul 11
- Save Yourself from Muscle Strain! — Major upgrade — Added a bunch of new information about conventional risk factors. » Jul 11
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — Upgraded, diagnosis intro — Added more information based on a very helpful video that shows “fake” shoulder ROM achieved entirely with good shoulder girdle motion, while the shoulder joint proper remains completely stuck. » Jul 11
- Heat for Pain — New section: “Even more localized heating + the relevance of climate and context.” » Jul 10
- Save Yourself from Low Back Pain! — New section, back beliefs — » Jul 10
- Save Yourself from IT Band Syndrome! — New chapter, slue-footed posture — » Jul 10
- Complete Guide to Headaches — Science update, trigger point therapy — Cited a nail-in-coffin 2020 study of dry needling for neck pain. » Jul 10
- Complete Guide to Headaches — Science update, phyical stresses — Added more detail and citations about headaches caused by physical irritation around the head, including (sigh) personal protective equipment like face masks. » Jul 10
- Vitamin D for Pain — Added a statement about vitamin D and COVID-19. » Jul 9
- Repetitive Strain Injuries Tutorial — Extensive editing and modernization. Many minor improvements adding up to a large overall improvement. » Jul 9
- Save Yourself from Low Back Pain! — 2020-07-09 — Added a doctor’s anecdote about treating many troublesome back mice over the years, both his own and his patients. » Jul 9
- Save Yourself from Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome! — Minor addition, load management — Added “sex” to the list of activities that can involve potentially harmful knee stresses, depending on the position and, er, endurance. » Jul 6
- Poisoned by Massage — New section and sub-topic, “PMSM: What about people who feel lousy after a gentle massage treatment?” Polished and updated the article summary. Added a short section about the evidence and the plausibility of the rhabdomyolysis hypothesis. » Jul 3
- Many Pages — Another round of page speed work: now getting absolutely top marks in various speed testing tools for most pages. Images and YouTube now load “lazily” so readers don’t have to download every picture on every page they visit — just the ones they scroll down to. (Related: YouTube videos have been stopped from using trackers. I’m also getting ready to finally ditch Google Analytics for the same reason.) The scripting that powers popups was simplified down to almost nothing. Some huuuuge lists of updates have been moved to archives for that purpose rather than bloating the pages they’re on. Fixed a bug that was preventing a couple groups of pages from being served by CloudFlare. » Jul 1, 20
- Save Yourself from Muscle Strain! — Improvements — Science updates, updated side effect information, and just generally more detail. » Jun 30
- Vulnerability to Chronic Pain — Added and discussed one of the only examples of evidence that can, at least in principle, show a causal link between poor health and chronic pain. » Jun 29
- Chronic Pain as a Conditioned Behaviour — Added evidence that chronic pain can be a conditioned behaviour, plus some reading recommendations. » Jun 29
- Save Yourself from Shin Splints! — Science update, pronation chapter — Added some more recent citations, some more detail, and a photo. » Jun 26
- The Complete Guide to Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain — Minor update, quality control chapter — Added some thoughts on the theme of “What could possibly go wrong?” — inspired by a particularly bizarre example that is both disturbing and yet entirely too typical of the industry. » Jun 25
- Save Yourself from Shin Splints! — Upgraded, strength training chapter — Added more detail, especially about trigger points and minor muscle injury, with a couple new citations. » Jun 25
- The Role of “Spasm” in Frozen Shoulder — Just a little light editing. » Jun 18
- Vulnerability to Chronic Pain — Added a discussion of the evidence, such as it is. Also, extensive editing and polish. » Jun 17
- Anxiety & Chronic Pain — Extensive revisions to the self-help suggestions. This was long overdue. This article is quite old, and had some rambly weird stuff from my hippy youth, now purged. I added a couple of ideas, polished several others, organized them, and created an introduction with some broader points and a summary of all the options. » Jun 10
- The Complete Guide to Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain — Science update, dry needling chapter — A small science update, but a significant one: the best quality study with negative results available to date. » Jun 8
- Save Yourself from Muscle Strain! — Major revision, spasm section — Information about spasms and cramps is now more detailed and nuanced. Some significant modernization was needed. » Jun 6
- Save Yourself from IT Band Syndrome! — Major science update — Updated the discussion of inflammation with an important new subsection, “The other side of the story: don’t count inflammation out quite yet,” based mainly on the fascinating research of Dakin (among others). » Jun 6
- Post-Exercise, Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness — Added an unimportant but really interesting citation about non-local muscle fatigue. » May 31
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — Editing and more content — Added subsection about passive ROM testing, and did some miscellaneous polishing. » May 28
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — Improved — A thorough editing and cleanup, with some information added, most notably the most positive science on the topic. » May 22
- The Role of “Spasm” in Frozen Shoulder — Added an article summary. » May 20
- Does Massage Increase Circulation? — Added new section about deep vein thrombosis. » May 19
- Chronic Pain as a Conditioned Behaviour — Publication. » May 14
- Does Massage Therapy Work? — Upgraded, psychological effects of massage — Significantly expanded on the discussion of how massage might have profound psychological significance to people. » May 14
The last 20 blog posts
- Chronic pain mainly on or near joints » Aug 3, 20
- How tongues stick out » Aug 3, 20
- Fast, cheap COVID testing » Jul 23, 20
- The myth of feminine fragility » Jul 23, 20
- Few humans ever get to experience anything like this » Jul 23, 20
- More evidence muscle “remembers” » Jul 17, 20
- Two reasons further research is perpetually needed » Jul 14, 20
- Examine Personalized: Monthly nutrition research summaries » Jul 8, 20
- Schnell, schnell! Speed boosts for PainScience.com » Jul 3, 20
- A pill that trashes tendons » Jun 23, 20
- Skepticism about skeptics from a skeptic » Jun 18, 20
- Study finds jack shit (which is to be expected) » May 6, 20
- Wax on, wax off » May 3, 20
- Stretching chat with podiatrists » May 1, 20
- “Massage parlour” ecommerce hijinks » May 1, 20
- Maximally ungracious: straining to violate principle of charity » Apr 26, 20
- Wearing a mask a lot? Got a headache? » Apr 17, 20
- Content quality on the internet » Apr 10, 20
- Resist infection with moderate exercise (but know when to quit) » Apr 7, 20
- Stim treatments: if they can’t hurt, they probably can’t help either » Apr 2, 20
The last 20 bibliography items with beefier summaries
Many scientific papers added to the bibliography are boring and utilitarian. But some are much more interesting, and the pages for those papers are like blog posts about them.
- Modulation in the elastic properties of gastrocnemius muscle heads in individuals with plantar fasciitis and its relationship with pain. Zhou et al., 2020, Sci Rep. » added Aug 2020
- Association Between Plantar Fasciitis and Isolated Gastrocnemius Tightness. Nakale et al., 2018, Foot Ankle Int. » added Aug 2020
- Do Niggles Matter? - Increased injury risk following physical complaints in football (soccer). Whalan et al., 2020, Science and Medicine in Football. » added Aug 2020
- The influence of kinesiology tape colour on performance and corticomotor activity in healthy adults: a randomised crossover controlled trial. Cavaleri et al., 2018, BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. » added Aug 2020
- Are sleep problems and non-specific health complaints risk factors for chronic pain? A prospective population-based study with 17 year follow-up. Nitter et al., 2012, Scand J Pain. » added Jun 2020
- Carbon-14 bomb pulse dating shows that tendinopathy is preceded by years of abnormally high collagen turnover. Heinemeier et al., 2018, FASEB J. » added Mar 2020
- Dermatome and fasciatome. Stecco et al., 2019, Clin Anat. » added Mar 2020
- Running ground reaction forces across footwear conditions are predicted from the motion of two body mass components. Udofa et al., 2019, J Appl Physiol (1985). » added Mar 2020
- Chronic Pain, Psychopathology, and DSM-5 Somatic Symptom Disorder. Katz et al., 2015, Can J Psychiatry. » added Mar 2020
- Short-term resistance exercise inhibits neuroinflammation and attenuates neuropathological changes in 3xTg Alzheimer's disease mice. Liu et al., 2020, Journal of neuroinflammation. » added Feb 2020
- Is objectively measured sitting time associated with low back pain? A cross-sectional investigation in the NOMAD study. Gupta et al., 2015, PLoS One. » added Jan 2020
- Factors Contributing to Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome in Runners: A Prospective Study. Becker et al., 2018, Med Sci Sports Exerc. » added Jan 2020
- Laceration of the transverse mesocolon in an old man with a habit of abdominal massage for constipation: a case report. Mori et al., 2020, Surg Case Rep. » added Jan 2020
- The relation between pain-related fear and disability: a meta-analysis. Zale et al., 2013, J Pain. » added Jan 2020
- Inactivity induces resistance to the metabolic benefits following acute exercise. Akins et al., 2019, J Appl Physiol (1985). » added Nov 2019
- [Evidence of the efficacy and safety of cannabis medicines for chronic pain management: A methodological minefield]. Häuser et al., 2019, Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz. » added Nov 2019
- Skeletal Muscles Do Not Undergo Apoptosis During Either Atrophy or Programmed Cell Death-Revisiting the Myonuclear Domain Hypothesis. Schwartz et al., 2018, Front Physiol. » added Nov 2019
- Pain-Free Versus Pain-Threshold Rehabilitation Following Acute Hamstring Strain Injury: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Hickey et al., 2019, J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. » added Oct 2019
- The vagus nerve and the inflammatory reflex—linking immunity and metabolism. Pavlov et al., 2012, Nat Rev Endocrinol. » added Oct 2019
- The Effectiveness of PNF Versus Static Stretching on Increasing Hip-Flexion Range of Motion. Lempke et al., 2018, J Sport Rehabil. » added Oct 2019
