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 246)
- 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
- Baxter’s Neuritis and Plantar Fasciitis » Mar 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 34 articles & books in 118 days, breaking down into 17 major updates, 12 medium, 21 minor (use the button below to include/exclude the medium and minor updates). That’s an update every 2.4 days in recent history; there have been 2069 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.
- A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia — Correction: fibromyalgia is not (clearly or officially) a “diagnosis of exclusion.” However, it’s an interesting question to dive into, so there’s a new section: “Is fibromyalgia a ‘diagnosis of exclusion’”? » 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 — 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 — 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 Complete Guide to IT Band Syndrome — Science update, pain-killers — Added citations to evidence that NSAIDs may actually impair healing. » Nov 10
- Vibration Therapy — New section, “Massage gun side effects: shooting yourself in the foot (or anywhere) with a massage gun.” » Nov 8
- Poisoned by Massage — Cited a new case study of massage-induced rhabdo, added a link to another good quality anecdote about exertional rabdo. Although a minor change, this is now quite a lot of “smoke” and I am starting to thinking that the rhabdo hypothesis isn’t so exotic anymore, so I also changed some language to express more serious concern about the potential seriousness of the situation. » Nov 8
- Chronic, Subtle, Systemic Inflammation — Small new section, “Menopause is probably inflammatory,” based on some new science. » Nov 8
- The Complete Guide to Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain — More info, about types of doctors and therapists — Added some context about trigger point therapy as a “modality” to introduce the section. » Nov 8
- Shin Splints Treatment, The Complete Guide — Science update, impact — Cited Milgrom et al on seemingly high-impact exercises actually being not so high impact, and Barton et al on the value of running technique » Nov 8
- Complete Guide to Frozen Shoulder — Minor upgrade, case study — Added some additional discussion of the implications of Tanya’s story. » Nov 1
- Trigger Point Doubts — Made a significant correction to my summary of Rathbone et al. I had not noticed an important distinction between intra- inter-rater reliability, which led to more errors in my reporting. The correction also made it possible to make the point of the section more clearly and cleanly. » Oct 30
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Chronic Pain — Added section, “CBT as ‘glorified toxic positivity’ or gaslighting.” » Oct 28
- Insomnia Until it Hurts — Added citation to Prather et al on the effect of sleep loss on vaccination. » Oct 28
- The Complete Guide to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome — Upgraded — Substantial revision and modernization, with more attention given to skeptical concerns about icing. » Oct 28
- 13 Kinds of Bogus Citations — New section, “Malice and fraud versus incompetence and self-delusion.” » Oct 19
- Many Pages — Several hundred typos have been eliminated from about 70 PainScience.com articles in a major proofreading effort. The project has reached a milestone, and will continue but with diminishing returns. See my blog post, “The Warr on Tipos.” » Oct 18, 20
- Does Craniosacral Therapy Work? — New section, “Can craniosacral therapy treat hydrocephalus?” Also a science update, citing Haller. » Oct 16
- 5 Main Reasons Athletes Stretch… All Flawed — Edited — Just a thorough proofreading, eliminating several minor errors and glitches. » Oct 15
- Post-Exercise, Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness — Correction: new evidence suggests that the phenomenon of non-local muscle fatigue isn’t quite as well-established as I thought (see Behm). » Oct 15
- The False Humility of “Facilitating” Healing — Converted from blog post to permanent article, polished, and expanded a little. (And this is a pretty simple article, so it may never evolve beyond this.) » Oct 9
- Chronic Pain and Inequality — Added discussion of “social” versus “physical” distance. » Oct 6
- 34 Surprising Causes of Pain — Added a section about smoking, expanded the discussion of poor health, and added an interesting blurb about the pre-pandemic meaning of “social distancing.” » Oct 5
- The PainScience.com origin story — Substantial revision. » Oct 5
- Vulnerability to Chronic Pain — Editorial polishing. » Oct 2
- Smoking and Chronic Pain — Science update. Added a good fresh citation to Smuck et al about the link between smoking and pain. » Sep 30
- The Complete Guide to Chronic Tension Headaches — New section, the impact of smoking — » Sep 30
The last 20 blog posts
- 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 special threat of health anxiety (hypochondria) » Jan 19, 21
- A dumbed-down explanation of ibuprofen » Jan 12, 21
- Allergic reactions to vaccination are struck-by-lightning rare » Jan 12, 21
- Knee noise and arthritis » Jan 12, 21
- Bath salts from Jupiter » Jan 12, 21
- Fibromyalgia is one of the hardest problems in all of medicine » Jan 5, 21
- If you don’t break the table… » Jan 5, 21
- Plastic pipes heated by fires are polluting drinking water » Jan 5, 21
- Hey Siri, scan me! » Dec 23, 20
- The young are also being maimed and killed by Covid » Dec 23, 20
- Pain as a symptom of complex trauma » Dec 17, 20
- NICE finally moves to stop recommending exercise for chronic “fatigue” » Dec 17, 20
- Seizures and giddiness, together at last » Dec 17, 20
- 2020’s scientific bloopers » Dec 17, 20
- Science versus anecdotes » Dec 17, 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, like small blog posts about the science.
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Disc Degeneration of Young Low Back Pain Patients: A Prospective 30-Year Follow-up MRI Study. Simo et al., 2020, Spine (Phila Pa 1976). » added May 2020
- No Added Benefit of Combining Dry Needling With Guideline-Based Physical Therapy When Managing Chronic Neck Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Stieven et al., 2020, J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. » added Apr 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
