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 224)
- 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
- “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
- The False Humility of “Facilitating” Healing » Nov 2019
- Vulnerability to Chronic Pain » Jun 2019
- Painful Lessons » Jun 2019
- Achilles Tendinitis Treatment Science » May 2019
- Does Massage Increase Circulation? » May 2019
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 154 days, breaking down into 21 major updates, 10 medium, 19 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 2080 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.
- The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) — Substantial batch of minor corrections. » Apr 14
- Many Pages — The PainScience.com store checkout has been rebooted. Specifically, I have migrated from Stripe’s legacy checkout system to their new-fangled hosted checkout. See the official announcement for a few details, or my personal blog for a behind-the-scenes look: The new online store story (“If only I had procrastinated more”). » Apr 8, 21
- 34 Surprising Causes of Pain — Rewrote the section on neuroinflammation. It had been hastily excerpted and abridged from another article. Now it’s a proper standalone summary and much clearer. » Mar 24
- Pseudo-Quackery in the Treatment of Pain — Added “posturology” to the list of pseudo-quackeries. » Mar 24
- Does Posture Matter? — Added links — Added six reading recommendations, all with mini-reviews. » Mar 23
- A Deep Dive into Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness — New section: “Waiting it out or working through it: the role of rest and more exercise in DOMS treatment” in which I address two key questions I should have answered here long ago: “Should you exercise while sore?” and “Can exercising while sore actually help?” » Mar 19
- Quite a Stretch — New section, Stretching for back pain — » Mar 18
- Zapped! Does TENS work for pain? — Added summary and citations for non-invasive brain stim. Added two new scientific review citations to the “Overview of TENS reviews” table. Added a new section, “Just the right settings.” Added a dense couple paragraphs about the unclear role of muscle stim in treating arthrogenic muscle inhibition. » Mar 17
- The Chiropractic Controversies — Added citation to a new survey of chiropractic students showing that anti-scientific subluxationism continues to substantially define the profession around the world. » Mar 17
- Tennis Elbow Guide — Thorough proofreading, correcting an unusual number of minor errors — not surprising after the huge recent update. » Mar 16
- Many Pages — More words! I identified and fixed a bug in content management system that was resulting in article and book word counts that were quite a bit too low. In many cases the actual word counts are at least 30% higher than what was being advertised before. » Mar 15, 21
- Tennis Elbow Guide — Complete article reboot and expansion, roughly tripling in length to about 15,000 words. The most substantively upgraded sub-topics are etiology and risk factors, recovery time, steroids, denervation, massage, and strengthening. » Mar 14
- Nerve Pain Is Overdiagnosed — Modernized, expanded. Most importantly, I added some more basic useful information and citations about neuropathy and muscle pain. This page is still technically just an abridged excerpt, but it now stands a little taller on its own. Some improvements also transplanted back into the tutorials this page came from. » Mar 11
- A Deep Dive into Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness — Added a fun image of Anti-Stiff, an old-timey snake oil for muscle soreness (good historical perspective, too). Added discussion of worst case scenarios, especially rhabdomyolysis, and DOMS that's out of proportion to overexertion. Added examples of pathological vulnerability to DOMS, and some speculation about mechanism (neuroinflammation). » Mar 4
- The Dubious Science of Kinesiology Tape — Major upgrade, a complete reboot of the article: more of everything, especially citations. Previously it was just a brief “position statement” on the topic, now it’s a full-fledged critical analysis. The bottom line is still the same: skeptical. The biggest single change is the strong emphasis on the interesting fact that therapeutic taping was a chiropractor’s invention from back in the 1970s, and a relatively obscure one until the 2012 Olympics, not a staple of physical therapy and rehab. This really helps make the important point that therapeutic taping is more about marketing than medicine. » Feb 26
- Voltaren Gel & Friends, A Review and Guide — Major additions, more than a thousand words on “other topical pain-killers: from literal snake oil to the perfectly cromulent salicylates.” » Feb 23
- The Chiropractic Controversies — Transplated and updated information about chiropractic’s legal battles from a separate page. Also, the whole article got a proofreading for the first time in quite a while, correcting a few minor errors. » Feb 17
- Quite a Stretch — Re-expansion — In mid-2020 the article was split up into four separate articles as an experiment. That experiment failed; I decided that it’s better as one mighty article, and restored it to its original state. Technically there’s no new content, but this page is nevertheless “like new” — it has never been this comprehensive before. » Feb 16
- Achilles Tendinitis Treatment Science — New section: “Achilles tendonitis recovery time.” » Feb 11
- The Complete Guide to Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain — Upgrade, alternate explanations of trigger points — Today I dug much deeper into the idea that trigger points are a kind of “injury,” especially an overuse injury. I am quite pleased with this update — genuinely interesting stuff. » Feb 6
- The Complete Guide to Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain — Improved, misdiagnosis chapter — I have added much clearer and more thorough information about the difference between a strain (clear mechanism involving structural damage) and a trigger point (unclear mechanism, no obvious structural component). » Feb 6
- The Complete Guide to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome — More and better, thermotherapy section — It’s not an important sub-topic for patellofemoral pain, but it certainly deserved more and better advice than I had previously offered. An obsolete point or two removed, and a more modern perspective added. » Feb 4
- The Tyranny of Yoga, Meditation, and Mindfulness — Added section about the links between yoga and pseudoscience, anti-vaccination, and Qanon, and another about the “Fuck you, Namaste!” phenomenon. » Feb 3
- A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia — New section — An entire new section dedicated to a correction: fibromyalgia is not (clearly or officially) a “diagnosis of exclusion.” However, it’s an interesting question to dive into, so I wrote a whole new section about it. » Jan 26
- The Complete Guide to Muscle Strains — More info, strength chapter — More detailed information and advice about training for “muscle balance” between the quads and hamstrings. » Jan 21
- Shin Splints Treatment, The Complete Guide — Improvements — A bit more and clearer information on the role of radiculopathy/sciatica in differential diagnosis of shin pain. » Jan 20
- Missing Serious Symptoms — Revised and significantly expanded. » Jan 15
- A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia — Science update — Added citation and significant discussion of Mascarenhas et al, a huge 2020 meta-analysis of treatments for fibromyalgia. I gave some extra attention to the evidence on cognitive behavioural therapy. » Jan 15
- A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia — Clarification — Added some new emphasis on how difficult fibromyalgia treatment is. People seem to think there must be a treatment for it, but there really isn’t. This disease remains extremely puzzling and generally untreatable, and that point needed to be made more strongly. » Jan 6
- 34 Surprising Causes of Pain — Added short commentary on the ethics of sharing “high-grade hypochondriac nightmare fuel.” » Dec 29
- Reviews of Pain Professions — Another thorough proofreading, and many minor clarifications. » Dec 29
- A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia — Good news update — Added superb news about “New Graded Exercise Warning on Current ME/CFS Guideline. » Dec 17
- The “Impress Me” Test — An unusually large batch of typo corrections. (I don’t normally consider correcting typos to be worthy of logging an update, but in this case… sheesh.) » Dec 13
- Sensitization in Chronic Pain — Added minor new section, “A practical example of self-diagnosis of sensitization and its predictive power,” inspired by Akin-Akinyosoye et al. » Nov 27
- What Happened To My Barber? — Minor addition of a definition of beauty parlour syndrome. » Nov 23
- Shin Splints Treatment, The Complete Guide — New chapter, steroid injections — » Nov 18
- Shin Splints Treatment, The Complete Guide — Minor new sub-topic, foam rolling — » Nov 17
- Complete Guide to Plantar Fasciitis — Major expansion, regenerative medicine — Added an introduction about regenerative medicine in general, a more bullish assessment of PRP, and some new basic notes about stem cell therapy. » Nov 14
- The Complete Guide to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome — New sub-topic — Added discussion of the (rather silly) idea that prolotherapy is a form of regenerative medicine. » Nov 14
- The Complete Guide to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome — Major expansion — Added an introduction about regenerative medicine in general, a thorough discussion of autologous chondrocyte implantation, and some basic notes about stem cell therapy. » Nov 14
- The Complete Guide to IT Band Syndrome — Minor edit — Modernized the homeopathic arnica section. » Nov 14
- The Complete Guide to IT Band Syndrome — New chapter, regenerative medicine — » Nov 14
- Trigger Point Doubts — Updated audio version of the article to incorporate recent significant changes. » Nov 13
- When to Worry About Low Back Pain — Minor science update, added a citation to a cancer case study. » Nov 12
- The Complete Guide to Muscle Strains — New chapter, injury warning signs — » Nov 12
- Does Epsom Salt Work? — Medical update, magnesium deficiency — More and better information about the causes, symptoms, and treatments for magnesium deficiency. » Nov 11
- Complete Guide to Frozen Shoulder — Science update, ultrasound — Minor citation to Ainsworth on ultrasound for shoulder pain (negative, of course). » Nov 11
- Complete Guide to Frozen Shoulder — Major expansion, posture section — Upgraded from a brief dismissal of the topic to a full discussion, from 100 words to 1000. » Nov 11
- Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — New section, positional release — Adapted and expanded from an old chapter in my muscle pain book, with more detail and a back pain example. » Nov 10
- The Complete Guide to IT Band Syndrome — Science update, hip strengthening — Added a scrap of new data about hips tiring faster in ITBS patients, useful mostly as an example of inconclusive research — but we try to work with what we have. » Nov 10
The last 20 blog posts
- New cash register » Apr 10, 21
- The remove-or-improve project: 2 major article upgrades so far » Mar 27, 21
- New PainSci article about vaginismus » Mar 8, 21
- Defensive medicine and MRI for back pain » Mar 6, 21
- The taping of Methai the elephant » Mar 6, 21
- The speed of lies and truth, mistakes and retractions » Feb 26, 21
- Can COVID be a pain-killer? » Feb 22, 21
- Massage for the win: a happy (but weird) personal anecdote » Feb 8, 21
- More chiro COVID quackery » Feb 5, 21
- Speed protein » Feb 4, 21
- An indirect yoga hazard: you might join a cult » Feb 3, 21
- Optimism by denial » Feb 2, 21
- Nerves are not wires » Feb 1, 21
- “Revolutionary” insomnia advice » Jan 29, 21
- Bad-sanitizer story worsens » Jan 28, 21
- Antidepressants not great for back pain, arthritis » Jan 22, 21
- Still more steroid risks » Jan 22, 21
- I woke up with it » Jan 22, 21
- Back pain is rarely as dangerous as it feels, except when it is » Jan 19, 21
- Weak collagen science » Jan 19, 21
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.
- Electric Stimulation for Pain Relief in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Salazar et al., 2017, Pain Physician. » added Mar 2021
- Does computer use affect the incidence of distal arm pain? A one-year prospective study using objective measures of computer use. Mikkelsen et al., 2012, Int Arch Occup Environ Health. » added Mar 2021
- Lateral Epicondylitis and Physical Exposure at Work? A Review of Prospective Studies and Meta-Analysis. Descatha et al., 2016, Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). » added Mar 2021
- Effect of sweet fennel seed extract capsule on knee pain in women with knee osteoarthritis. Alazadeh et al., 2020, Complement Ther Clin Pract. » added Jan 2021
- Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of the upper trapezius muscles - assessment of myofascial trigger points in patients with migraine. Sollmann et al., 2019, J Headache Pain. » added Jan 2021
- Dry Needling Adds No Benefit to the Treatment of Neck Pain: A Sham-Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial With 1-Year Follow-up. Gattie et al., 2021, Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. » added Jan 2021
- Evaluating sensory profiles in nociplastic chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional validation study. Gräper et al., 2020, Physiother Theory Pract. » added Nov 2020
- Association of Therapies With Reduced Pain and Improved Quality of Life in Patients With Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Mascarenhas et al., 2020, JAMA Intern Med. » added Oct 2020
- Temporal Links Between Self-Reported Sleep and Antibody Responses to the Influenza Vaccine. Prather et al., 2020, Int J Behav Med. » added Oct 2020
- Craniosacral therapy for chronic pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Haller et al., 2019, BMC Musculoskelet Disord. » added Oct 2020
- Non-local muscle fatigue effects on muscle strength, power, and endurance in healthy individuals: A systematic review and meta- analysis. Behm et al., 2020, SportRxiv. » added Oct 2020
- Relationships Between Sleep Quality and Pain-Related Factors for People with Chronic Low Back Pain: Tests of Reciprocal and Time of Day Effects. Gerhart et al., 2017, Ann Behav Med. » added Aug 2020
- Hip muscle response to a fatiguing run in females with iliotibial band syndrome. Brown et al., 2019, Hum Mov Sci. » added Aug 2020
- Topical glyceryl trinitrate for the treatment of tendinopathies: a systematic review. Challoumas et al., 2019, Br J Sports Med. » added Aug 2020
- 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
- Functional Movement Screen Pain Location and Impact on Scoring Have Limited Value for Injury Risk Estimation in Junior Australian Football Players. Fuller et al., 2020, J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. » added Jul 2020
- Thickness of plantar fascia is not predictive of functional outcome in plantar fasciitis treatment. Ermutlu et al., 2018, Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc. » added Jul 2020
