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
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The 15 newest featured articles on PainScience.com (out of 234)
- The Tibiofibular Joint and Lateral Knee Pain » Feb 2022
- Ozone Therapy for Pain » Dec 2021
- Mind Over Pain » Sep 2021
- What Works for Pain? » Jun 2021
- Counterstimulation » Jun 2021
- Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response » Jun 2021
- Neurodynamic Stretching » Jun 2021
- The Science of Pain-Killers » May 2021
- Marijuana for Pain » May 2021
- Vaginismus » Mar 2021
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Chronic Pain » Oct 2020
- Reviews of Pain Professions » Aug 2020
- Chronic Pain and Inequality » Jun 2020
- Chronic Pain as a Conditioned Behaviour » May 2020
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 40 articles & books in 194 days, breaking down into 25 major updates, 17 medium, 20 minor (use the button below to include/exclude the medium and minor updates). That’s an update every 3.1 days in recent history; there have been 2400 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. Go to the complete update archives.
- Pain is Weird — New section, The rhythm of throbbing pain. » Dec 6
- The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — Rewritten, scoliosis treatment chapter — Completely rebooted, all new everything about scoliosis treatment. » Nov 23
- The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — Rewritten, scoliosis etiology chapter — Some of the original chapter remains, but mostly I just started over. » Nov 23
- The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — Minor revision — Polished and tweaked. Nothing fancy, just good old fashioned editing. » Nov 10
- When to Worry About Low Back Pain — Added an important citation to O’Sullivan about back pain myths to the introduction. » Oct 22
- Zapped! Does TENS work for pain? — Science update for transcranial stim: cited Bilir et al regarding fibromyalgia, and O’Connell regarding back pain. » Oct 18
- Many Pages — At last, footnotes and other “popups” can be dismissed with the ESC key or by clicking outside the popup. This is one of the most overdue “quality of life” feature updates for the salamander’s domain in years. It’s such a small thing! But not actually all that small, considering how many footnotes there are. It is no longer necessary to move the mouse to the popup closure button! Hooray! » Oct 12, 22
- Placebo Power Hype — Added a small section, “Honest placebo: now longer lasting?” » Oct 10
- The Tyranny of Yoga, Meditation, and Mindfulness — Major revisions and improvements. Over the years, this article had gotten to be a bit muddled and meandering, and it lacked citations for some key points about efficacy/safety. Unacceptable! Some formatting glitches had even crept into it. I had a bunch of fresh yoga science in my head after writing a new yoga chapter for my back pain book — a perfect time to reboot this page. » Oct 9
- The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — Additions, yoga — Restored some selected passages lost in the rewrite (and it’s now one of the longest chapters in the book, maybe the very longest, and longer than most standalone articles on the topic). Turning into a book within a book! » Oct 8
- Pain is Weird — Science update — Added a sidebar about the failure of phantom limb pain as a major example of pain without injury, citing Ilfeld. » Oct 5
- The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — Rewritten, yoga — A complete reboot of my coverage of the topic of yoga for back pain, with much more (and more recent) science. » Oct 5
- Does Posture Matter? — Science update — Added a citation to Having ‘good’ posture doesn’t prevent back pain, and ‘bad’ posture doesn’t cause it. » Oct 4
- Pain is Weird — Editing — And still more minor improvements and clarifications in several sections. » Sep 20
- The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — Science update — Added a much more detailed explanation of how the sensitivity of muscle has been demonstrated experimentally, based on Graven-Nielsen et al. » Sep 20
- Vibration Therapies, from Massage Guns to Jacuzzis — Added new section, “That bizarre 2021 study of ‘robotic mouse massage.’” » Sep 19
- Chronic, Subtle, Systemic Inflammation — Added new section, “Massaging the inflammation away.” » Sep 19
- 35 Surprising Causes of Pain — Added a new section about cancer in general as a cause of some kinds of seemingly simple musculoskeletal pain. » Sep 2
- Chronic Pain and Inequality — New section: “Disastrously dismissing women’s symptoms.” Plus a science update: Madden on how injured women are more likely to be assaulted by a boyfriend or husband. » Aug 31
- A Deep Dive into Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness — A minor (but particularly interesting) science update: Roman et al on muscle nuclei migrating to sites of microtrauma for repairwork. » Aug 26
- Pain is Weird — Revision — Many changes to acknowledge uncertainties and controversies about the hypothesis that pain can be out of proportion to sensation, or that it can exist without any tissue damage at all. Some new citations. » Aug 22
- Complete Guide to Plantar Fasciitis — Addition, hall of treatment shame — Added “toe spreaders” to the hall of shame. » Aug 22
- Should You Get A Lube Job for Your Arthritic Knee? — Science update. A huge new review from the British Medical Journal is very “nail in the coffin” for viscosupplementation. » Aug 19
- Does Ultrasound Therapy Work? — Added a sidebar: “Self-serve shockwave therapy? Buyer beware” » Aug 18
- 13 Kinds of Bogus Citations — Added two sections: “Mechanism masturbation” and “Dozens of studies can still be wrong.” » Aug 17
- Many Pages — Improved login UX for PainSci members, enabling “quick login” at paywalls for members-only content around the site, revealing the content in a single step rather than the several steps the old way required. More information and examples. » Aug 16, 22
- Does Posture Matter? — Science update, muscle balance — Cited Guan as a particularly good example of how limited the science of muscle balance is. » Aug 15
- Eccentric Contraction — New section: “Is running downhill healthier than running up, because of braking contractions?” » Aug 13
- Does Massage Therapy Work? — New section, foam rolling — Well, this is rather overdue. » Aug 10
- The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — New chapter, Pain Reprocessing Therapy — A major addition to the book, months in the making, 1000 words about the most sensational back pain science claim of 2022: that PRT works dramatically better than anything else. » Aug 10
- The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — New chapter, CBT for back pain — A major addition to the book, months in the making, 1500 words and a dozen new citations, all about “the elephant in the mind-game room.” » Aug 10
- The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — New chapter, overview of the psychology of back pain — An announcement and summary of key ideas on the theme of the psychology of back pain coming to the book throughout the middle of 2022. » Aug 10
- 35 Surprising Causes of Pain — Science update. Added rheumatic symptoms from Long COVID to post-viral syndrome section. » Aug 6
- Vulnerability to Chronic Pain — Added useful new tip: “How vulnerable are you? Take the stork test of doom!” Based on Araujo. » Aug 6
- Trigger Points on Trial — Added a sidebar: “Please! Stop saying trigger points ‘don’t exist’.” » Aug 5
- Reassurance for Massage Therapists — Science update. Added a citation about tolerance of medical uncertainty (Begin). » Aug 5
- Cramps, Spasms, Tremors & Twitches — Substantial upgrades to the section “The hiccup hack” section. » Aug 3
- The Trouble with Chairs — Science update. Added a citation to Santos about weekend warriorism. » Aug 3
- Marijuana for Pain — Added a citation to Gazendam. Clarified a couple minor points. Emphasized that cannabis is safe and plausible enough to be worth trying for many patients. » Jul 26
- Homeopathy Schmomeopathy — Science update, cited Gartlehner. » Jul 21
- Pain is Weird — Editing — Many minor improvements and clarifications in several sections. » Jul 20
- Cramps, Spasms, Tremors & Twitches — Revised and expanded the introduction and summary; added menstrual cramps to the master list of familiar spasms; added a new small section, “The hiccup hack: forced inspiratory suction and swallow.” » Jul 16
- Many Pages — Article summaries have been restored after a long absence and some overdue rejiggering of how they are displayed. Most of the longer articles on PainScience.com once again have an “abstract.” » Jul 9, 22
- Electromagnetic Sensitivity Absurdity — Added more information about non-ionizing radiation and the epidemiology data on wireless gadgets and cancers. » Jul 8
- Pain is Weird — New section, pain asymbolia. » Jul 3
- You Might Just Be Weird — Added a couple good citations about vertebrae and pelvic bone shapes, with some good images, and a new section: “Feeling for crookedness of the vertebra and pelvis.” » Jun 24
- Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements for Pain & Healing — Added a section about probiotics and the microbiome. Can gel caps full of “good bacteria” treat pain outside the gut? » Jun 23
- Complete Guide to Plantar Fasciitis — Addition, differential diagnosis section — Added a discussion of a possible link between plantar fasciitis and hallux limitus. » Jun 17
- The Complete Guide to Muscle Strains — More information, imaging section — Added an additional reason for imaging: some “strains” turn out to be stress fractures. » Jun 15
- The Complete Guide to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome — Minor addition — Added a little information for cyclists about the effect of pedal crank length on knee loading. » Jun 14
The last 20 blog posts
- Epsom salts, osmosis, and sucking » Dec 6, 22
- Yoga for back pain » Dec 2, 22
- Do you need to nose breathe more? 🔈 » Nov 30, 22
- The rhythm of throbbing pain » Nov 28, 22
- Tendons are swell » Nov 16, 22
- 5 reasons running on pavement probably isn’t injurious » Nov 15, 22
- The scary scrubber teaches me about the motivational power of pain 🔈 » Nov 8, 22
- How PainSci readers saved my dad from dangerous hiccups » Nov 3, 22
- The humiliating micro injuries of aging (but not just aging) » Oct 25, 22
- Website upgrade: Dismiss 7649 footnotes more easily » Oct 19, 22
- Pain and prejudice » Oct 17, 22
- Hungry, hungry humans balance the energy budget by … cutting inflammation?! 🔈 » Oct 13, 22
- Bad stretching take from a good doctor » Oct 7, 22
- Chasing posture as a cause of back pain is a dead end » Oct 4, 22
- Pulling on nerves for fun and therapy 🔈 » Sep 26, 22
- Icing is not dead » Sep 21, 22
- Cognitive behavioural therapy for low back pain (Member Post) 🔈 » Sep 15, 22
- Charles, the Alternative King? » Sep 13, 22
- Cancer risks from gadget radiation are super low to nil 🔈 » Sep 12, 22
- Psychosomatic pain in the ER » Sep 9, 22
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, like small blog posts about the science.
- Outcomes of Nonsurgical Treatments for Symptomatic Adult Degenerative Scoliosis: A Systematic Review. Schoutens et al., 2020, Pain Med. » added Nov 2022
- Open-label placebo for chronic low back pain: a 5-year follow-up. Carvalho et al., 2021, Pain. » added Oct 2022
- Effects of open-label placebo on pain, functional disability, and spine mobility in patients with chronic back pain: a randomized controlled trial. Kleine-Borgmann et al., 2019, Pain. » added Oct 2022
- Effect of statin therapy on muscle symptoms: an individual participant data meta-analysis of large-scale, randomised, double-blind trials. Cholesterol Treatment Trialists' Collaboration et al., 2022, Lancet. » added Sep 2022
- Intimate Partner Violence During Recovery from an Orthopaedic Injury: An Exploratory, Prospective, Multicenter, Observational Cohort Study. Madden et al., 2022, J Bone Joint Surg Am. » added Aug 2022
- Putting the Squeeze on Compression Garments: Current Evidence and Recommendations for Future Research: A Systematic Scoping Review. Weakley et al., 2022, Sports Med. » added Aug 2022
- How to recognize and manage psychosomatic pain in the pediatric emergency department. Cozzi et al., 2021, Ital J Pediatr. » added Aug 2022
- 'Myths and facts' education is comparable to 'facts only' for recall of back pain information but may improve fear-avoidance beliefs: an embedded randomized trial. Silva et al., 2022, J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. » added Aug 2022
- No long-term effects after a three-week open-label placebo treatment for chronic low back pain: a three-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. Kleine-Borgmann et al., 2022, Pain. » added Aug 2022
- Association of the "Weekend Warrior" and Other Leisure-time Physical Activity Patterns With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Nationwide Cohort Study. Santos et al., 2022, JAMA Intern Med. » added Jul 2022
- Evaluation of the Forced Inspiratory Suction and Swallow Tool to Stop Hiccups. Alvarez et al., 2021, JAMA Netw Open. » added Jul 2022
- Exercise and education versus saline injections for knee osteoarthritis: a randomised controlled equivalence trial. Bandak et al., 2022, Ann Rheum Dis. » added Jul 2022
- Revised Estimates for the Number of Human and Bacteria Cells in the Body. Sender et al., 2016, PLoS Biol. » added Jun 2022
- The biopsychosocial model is lost in translation: from misrepresentation to an enactive modernization. Cormack et al., 2022, Physiotherapy Theory and Practice. » added May 2022
- Is the placebo powerless? Update of a systematic review with 52 new randomized trials comparing placebo with no treatment. Hróbjartsson et al., 2004, J Intern Med. » added May 2022
- Association between Inter-Limb Asymmetries in Lower-Limb Functional Performance and Sport Injury: A Systematic Review of Prospective Cohort Studies. Guan et al., 2022, J Clin Med. » added May 2022
- The dorsal root ganglion in chronic pain and as a target for neuromodulation: a review. Krames et al., 2015, Neuromodulation. » added Apr 2022
- Evidence for infection in intervertebral disc degeneration: a systematic review. Smith et al., 2022, Eur Spine J. » added Apr 2022
- An amygdalar neural ensemble that encodes the unpleasantness of pain. Corder et al., 2019, Science. » added Apr 2022
- Assessing the magnitude of reporting bias in trials of homeopathy: a cross-sectional study and meta-analysis. Gartlehner et al., 2022, BMJ Evid Based Med. » added Mar 2022
