What’s New on PainScience.com?
New featured articles, updates to articles, recent blog posts, and noteworthy new scientific papers
I have been expanding and upgrading this website since the early 2000s. Relevant new science is added almost daily. I tend an endless to-do list like a garden, and corrections and mea culpas are always the highest priority items. In 2016 I (finally) began logging all updates, mostly so that I could promote them here: a record of everything significant that’s new or changed lately. ~ Paul Ingraham, Publisher
The 15 newest featured articles on PainScience.com (out of 231)
- 💩 Massage Therapists Say » Sep 29, 17
- Dupuytren’s Contracture » Jul 6, 17
- Get in the Pool for Pain » Jan 24, 17
- A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia » Jan 21, 17
- Cramps, Spasms, Tremors & Twitches » Nov 16, 16
- Science versus Experience in Musculoskeletal Medicine » Nov 9, 16
- Chronic, Subtle, Systemic Inflammation » Sep 8, 16
- The Basic Types of Pain » Aug 29, 16
- Opioids for Chronic Aches & Pains » Jul 16, 16
- When to Worry About Neck Pain…and when not to! » Jul 2, 16
- IT Band Syndrome: Does the iliotibial band move after all? » Jun 30, 16
- What if You Could Wipe the Chronic Pain Slate Clean? » Jun 15, 16
- Trigger Points on Trial » Jun 1, 16
- The Trigger Point Identity Crisis » Jun 1, 16
The last 50 updates to featured articles and tutorials (of 1359 total logged updates)
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. Complete update logging started in the summer of 2016. Prior to that, I only logged major updates for the most popular and controversial articles.
hide 14 minor updates
- Repetitive Strain Injuries Tutorial — Major revision to the inflammation discussion, based on new evidence that RSIs may be inflamed after all — just not a classic, acute immune response. This isn’t really a shock, but it sure is interesting, and many changes had to be made to accomdate just a single key new citation (Dakin). » Jul 14, 18
- The Basic Types of Pain — New section: “Concluding with a deep thought: nociception isn’t pain, and there are no “pain nerves,” but muscles can still be sore » Jul 13, 18
- Save Yourself from Low Back Pain! — Important update — Added an important new sub-section about anticonvulsants. » Jul 13, 18
- Studying the Studies — Added tip about asking scientific paper authors for free full-text. » Jul 7, 18
- Insomnia Until it Hurts — Added citation to Stubbs, a huge new study of poorer populations showing a strong link to between insomnia and pain. » Jun 30, 18
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — New section, “Training the deep cervical flexors” — » Jun 29, 18
- Massage Therapy Side Effects — Added article summary, and made numerous other miscellaneous improvements. » Jun 28, 18
- Opioids for Chronic Aches & Pains — New section inspired by Comerci et al: “It’s getting harder to find doctors that will help with getting off opioids.” » Jun 26, 18
- Anxiety & Chronic Pain — Revised and clarified medical causes of anxiety, plus several other minor edits. » Jun 20, 18
- Save Yourself from Shin Splints! — Science update — A small but good update giving some good scientific support to the rationale for reducing tibialis anterior loading. That was already recommended, but it’s on firmer foundations now. » Jun 20, 18
- Save Yourself from Plantar Fasciitis! — New sub-topic, strengthening section — Answered a frequently asked question much more thoroughly: Does using arch support make your arches weaker? » Jun 20, 18
- Save Yourself from Plantar Fasciitis! — Addition, differential diagnosis section — Added L5/S1 radiculopathy. » Jun 20, 18
- Studying the Studies — Started a new section: “It’s a trap! Things to watch out for.” Just a couple items to start. » Jun 19, 18
- Save Yourself from Low Back Pain! — Major science update, obesity section — New key new citations and thorough analysis. » Jun 19, 18
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — A small but important update: cited Hollmann et al, who demonstrated in a small study that at least some people with frozen shoulder aren’t frozen when anaesthetized, strongly suggesting that at least some cases are not caused by capsular contracture. Cool and promising. » Jun 19, 18
- Bogus Citations — Big update today: added thorough discussion of the problem of predatory journals. Added three new bogus citation types: the non-cite, the junk cite, and the dump cite. Added a short section about citations to NASA studies. » Jun 15, 18
- Save Yourself from IT Band Syndrome! — Science update — Added some minor but interesting new points and citations about IT band anatomy. » Jun 15, 18
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — Revised, ergonomics section — Substantial miscellaneous modernization. In particular, much more useful information on the critical distinction between “poor posture” and “postural strain.” » Jun 14, 18
- Massage Therapy for Neck Pain, Chest Pain, Arm Pain, and Upper Back Pain — New small section, “The cult of scalenes.” Is the clinical importance of scalenes exaggerated? » Jun 13, 18
- Does Acupuncture Work for Pain? — New section, “A fine example of acupuncture research that seems well-designed and positive… but is still bizarrely flawed.” » Jun 13, 18
- Save Yourself from Low Back Pain! — Upgraded — Added much more detail about the basics of neuropathy and revised everything else quite thoroughly. Expanded the discussion of implications of Jayson as promised last month. » Jun 12, 18
- Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain Syndrome — Revised — The Quick Reference Guide hadn’t been updated for a loooong time, and I finally got to it. It could still use more modernization and careful synchronization with book content, but it is greatly improved. (Fun fact: this update also eliminated some the final traces of branding for the old SaveYourself.ca domain name, three-and-a-half years after it was retired.) » Jun 9, 18
- Save Yourself from IT Band Syndrome! — New section, symptoms — Although this book goes into great detail about diagnosis, strangely it was missing a simple thorough list of symptoms. A reader brought this to my attention, and I’ve corrected it. It’s a strange loose end to be tying up more than a decade into the project, but there you have it. » Jun 5, 18
- Opioids for Chronic Aches & Pains — Important new section: “Addiction versus dependence.” » Jun 1, 18
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — Science update — Added several references about the long term risks of joint popping, a paragraph about the short-term risks, and a citation about what causes joint popping. » Jun 1, 18
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — Revision, spinal manipulation section — Clarified the important distinction between hazard and risk. » Jun 1, 18
- Post-Exercise, Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness — New section about “That troublesome 2018 study that declared victory for massage therapy” (Dupuy et al. » May 23, 18
- Strength Training Surprises — New section, “Can strength training prevent overuse injuries?” » May 18, 18
- Does Acupuncture Work for Pain? — Covered the fresh PLoS ONE scandal over “one of the worst acupuncture studies I have ever seen.” » May 16, 18
- Massage Therapy Side Effects — Added discussion of dizziness, vertigo, and Meniere’s disease. » May 15, 18
- Microbreaking — Added a microbreaking reminder method. » May 12, 18
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — Science update, acupuncture section — Added information about dry needling, a cousin of acupuncture, and a neglected sub-topic. Note that information about dry needling has always been available in the companion book about trigger points, but its presence here in the neck pain book is long overdue. » May 12, 18
- Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain Syndrome — Science update, dry needling section — A new sub-section about Llamas-Ramos et al, a study by dry needling proponents with surprisingly negative results (even if they didn’t see it that way). Plus a bunch of miscellaneous minor improvements. » May 11, 18
- Save Yourself from Low Back Pain! — Science update, radiculopathy section — A science update… with quarter century old science about blood supply and radiculopathy (see Jayson). This is just a quick drop-in for now, but it’s fascinating, so I’ll be elaborating more in another update. » May 3, 18
- Eccentric Contraction — Two new sections, about titin and isometric contractions, and numerous other minor improvements. » May 1, 18
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — Revision, microbreaking section — Substantial improvements, harmonizing with the ergonomics revision. Much stronger focus on the scientific case for microbreaking despite the lack of evidence that stagnacy is a problem in the first place. Added a practical tip, and a comic. » May 1, 18
- Does Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection Work? — Science update, added new meta-analysis of PRP for muscle strain, Grassi et al. » Apr 27, 18
- Save Yourself from Muscle Strain! — Science update, platelet-rich plasma section — Added a highly relevant citation to Grassi et al. » Apr 27, 18
- Save Yourself from Plantar Fasciitis! — Added new stretch, arch stretchg section — A reader suggested yoga’s ‘broken toe pose.’ » Apr 26, 18
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — Added a section about Oolo-Austin Technique, which many readers have asked for. » Apr 26, 18
- Does Hip Strengthening Work for IT Band Syndrome? — Additional improvements following the February reboot of this excerpt, tying up some loose ends, adding some colour and detail. » Apr 24, 18
- Save Yourself from Low Back Pain! — New section, about back mice (lipomas) — » Apr 24, 18
- Save Yourself from IT Band Syndrome! — Improvements, hip strengthening section — Basically a continuation of the February reboot of this chapter, tying up some loose ends, adding some colour and detail. » Apr 23, 18
- The Runners Knee Diagnostic Checklist — Added a short section about causes, continuing to work on making the page more of a useful on-stop resource. » Apr 21, 18
- Does Acupuncture Work for Pain? — Added two recent citations to the introduction to keep things fresh, and a good quote to the conclusion. » Apr 17, 18
- Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain Syndrome — Improvements, dry needling section — Significantly expanded discussion of the rationale for needling with an interesting example and a helpful image. » Apr 17, 18
- MRI and X-Ray Often Worse than Useless for Back Pain — Clarified that MRI isn’t always useless for back pain. » Apr 14, 18
- Why Do Muscles Feel Stiff and Tight? — Added results of a poll on how stiff people with hypermobility syndromes feel. Noted an exception to the rule that stiffness is uncomfortable. Added a brief, broad explanation of why stiffness correlates so poorly with ROM. Elaborated on examples of pathological causes of dystonia and put them in lists. Added a new example, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Many other minor additions and edits for clarity. » Apr 12, 18
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — Upgrade — Added much more detail about the crisis in orthopedic surgeries — very important context — and more detail to the descriptions of surgical options. » Apr 5, 18
- When to Worry About Low Back Pain — Cited Premkumar et al on red flag reliability (which ain’t great). » Mar 12, 18
The last 20 blog posts
- But have you tried ____? » Jul 10, 18
- Exercise increases disc height » Jul 10, 18
- The double-edge sword of bracing and support during rehab » Jul 10, 18
- Scientific paper authors are allowed and “delighted” to send full-text » Jul 7, 18
- Ultrasound citation backfire » Jun 29, 18
- Better than what? » Jun 29, 18
- Do not touch » Jun 28, 18
- Why do people crack their own neck joints? » Jun 27, 18
- Reinvigorating mystery » Jun 25, 18
- Competition-based medicine » Jun 22, 18
- Scalenes: the psoas of the neck? » Jun 20, 18
- Take it slow with tendons » Jun 20, 18
- Regrowing worn out parts » Jun 18, 18
- The predatory journal crisis » Jun 18, 18
- Pain management versus coping » Jun 15, 18
- I don’t care who “swears by” what » Jun 15, 18
- The last trace of SaveYourself.ca? » Jun 15, 18
- An excellent activity reminder method » Jun 11, 18
- The epidemic of bogus health claims online » Jun 11, 18
- Education versus experience » Jun 6, 18
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.
- Determining the contribution of active stiffness to reduced range of motion in frozen shoulder. Hollmann et al., 2015, Physiotherapy. » added Jun 19, 18
- An Evidence-Based Approach for Choosing Post-exercise Recovery Techniques to Reduce Markers of Muscle Damage, Soreness, Fatigue, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis. Dupuy et al., 2018, Front Physiol. » added May 23, 18
- The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Lauersen et al., 2014, Br J Sports Med. » added May 15, 18
- Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Update of an Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis. Vickers et al., 2017, J Pain. » added Apr 17, 18
- Red Flags for Low Back Pain Are Not Always Really Red: A Prospective Evaluation of the Clinical Utility of Commonly Used Screening Questions for Low Back Pain. Premkumar et al., 2018, J Bone Joint Surg Am. » added Mar 10, 18
- The efficacy of radial extracorporeal shockwave therapy in shoulder adhesive capsulitis: a prospective, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical study. Hussein et al., 2016, European Journal of Physiotherapy. » added Mar 1, 18
- Is the rationale more important than deception? A randomized controlled trial of open-label placebo analgesia. Locher et al., 2017, Pain. » added Dec 11, 17
- The effectiveness of a neck and shoulder stretching exercise program among office workers with neck pain: a randomized controlled trial. Tunwattanapong et al., 2016, Clin Rehabil. » added Dec 2, 17
- Subgrouping Patients With Nonspecific Low Back Pain: Hope or Hype? Saragiotto et al., 2017, J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. » added Nov 13, 17
- The relationships between low back pain and lumbar lordosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Chun et al., 2017, Spine J. » added Nov 1, 17
- A fundamental critique of the fascial distortion model and its application in clinical practice. Thalhamer et al., 2017, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. » added Oct 31, 17
- Clinical evidence for cervical myelopathy due to Chiari malformation and spinal stenosis in a non-randomized group of patients with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Heffez et al., 2004, Eur Spine J. » added Oct 27, 17
- The relationship between latent trigger point and muscle strength in healthy subjects: a double-blind study. Celik et al., 2011, J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. » added Oct 5, 17
- Increased pain from muscle fascia following eccentric exercise: animal and human findings. Gibson et al., 2009, Exp Brain Res. » added Oct 4, 17
- Effect of stretching on thoracolumbar fascia injury and movement restriction in a porcine model. Langevin et al., 2017, Am J Phys Med Rehabil. » added Oct 2, 17
- The effect of heat on skin permeability. Park et al., 2008, Int J Pharm. » added Sep 27, 17
- Adverse events associated with unblinded, but not with blinded, statin therapy in the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial-Lipid-Lowering Arm (ASCOT-LLA): a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial and its non-randomised non-blind extension phase. Gupta et al., 2017, Lancet. » added Sep 13, 17
- Exercise induced hypoalgesia is elicited by isometric, but not aerobic exercise in individuals with chronic whiplash associated disorders. Smith et al., 2017, Scand J Pain. » added Sep 13, 17
- Patterns of sedentary behavior and mortality in US middle-aged and older adults: a national cohort study. Diaz et al., 2017, Ann Intern Med. » added Sep 13, 17
- Root compression on MRI compared with clinical findings in patients with recent onset cervical radiculopathy. Kuijper et al., 2011, J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. » added Sep 6, 17
