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 228)
- Mind Over Pain » Sep 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
- “Windows of Opportunity” in Rehab » Mar 2020
- Vibration Therapies, from Massage Guns to Jacuzzis » 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
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 28 articles & books in 109 days, breaking down into 21 major updates, 18 medium, 11 minor (use the button below to include/exclude the medium and minor updates). That’s an update every 2.2 days in recent history; there have been 2180 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 Complete Guide to Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain — Added anecdote — Added a solid anecdote from a physician reader about “appendicitis” cases treated with lidocaine injections in the abdominal muscles. Also added some extra medical information about pain in this area. » Sep 22
- Mind Over Pain — Added examples, sensory novelty section — The big idea of this section here was too abstract, so I added several concrete examples of how you “change something about how a painful area feels.” » Sep 17
- Mind Over Pain — New section, cognitive behavioural therapy — » Sep 16
- Vaginismus — Several minor improvements for Vaginismus Awareness Day. I added a list of good Twitter accounts to follow, some statistics, a good quote, and some clarifications about the relationship of vaginismus to other kinds of pain (with more links). Lorna Meehan’s work is now included in the resources. » Sep 15
- Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — Science update — Added a citation and expert opinion. » Sep 11
- Complete Guide to Low Back Pain — Minor improvements, alignment — Added some colour and did a little editing. » Sep 11
- Achilles Tendinitis Treatment Science — Two new sections about muscle: “Massage for Achilles tendinitis” and “The role of the plantaris muscle in Achilles tendinitis.” » Sep 11
- Achilles Tendinitis Treatment Science — Science updated: added two citations and an expert quote on the topic of eccentric training. » Sep 11
- A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia — New sidebar — Added a bit of comic relief: “Demon tries to inhabit my body … and regrets it.” » Sep 10
- The Complete Guide to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome — New section, about plantaris hypertonia — » Sep 10
- A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia — Revised — Significant improvements to the clarity of some tricky concepts. » Sep 3
- Medical Errors in Perspective — Added a new intro with more information and citations about the claim that medicine is the “third leading cause of death in America.” (It’s not.) » Aug 31
- Cold Laser Therapy Reviewed — Added a small new section, “Lasers versus LEDs,” explaining one of the hottest ongoing controversies about photobiomodulation therapy (and much ado about not much). » Aug 11
- Cramps, Spasms, Tremors & Twitches — Added mentions of restless leg syndrome and myoclonus, clarified the description of clonus, and expanded on my own experience with fasciculations. » Aug 11
- Mind Over Pain — More information, the story of “power posing” — » Aug 9
- Mind Over Pain — New section, The power of positive thinking versus toxic positivity — » Aug 9
- Pain is Weird — New section, pain as a conditioned behaviour — » Aug 4
- Mind Over Pain — New section, unlearning learned pain — » Aug 4
- Mind Over Pain — New section, on pain hacks and false hope — » Aug 3
- Chronic Pain as a Conditioned Behaviour — New section about threat hyper-vigilance, with a cool analogy to pet reward hyper-vigilance. » Jul 31
- Cold Laser Therapy Reviewed — Added detailed analysis of a major new trial of laser therapy for back pain. » Jul 31
- A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia — New section, fibromyalgia transplanted to mice in blood — » Jul 30
- Reassurance for Massage Therapists — Adjusted to be more inclusive of other kinds of professionals, not just massage therapists, plus some other polishing, especially rejiggered main list of reassurances to make it much more readable, less of a “wall of text.” » Jul 29
- The Complete Guide to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome — Proofreading — Top-to-bottom check for typos and other minor errors. They creep in over the years as I work on updates to the book. A good three dozen of the little buggers identified and fixed this time. » Jul 26
- Does Fascia Matter? — New section, alleged fascia-COVID link — » Jul 19
- Cramps, Spasms, Tremors & Twitches — Added a personal anecdote about successful treatment of a chronically twitching eyelid. » Jul 17
- What Works for Pain? — New section: “Pain relief in the future.” » Jul 8
- Zapped! Does TENS work for pain? — Science update: cited Zhang on pain relief from brain implants. » Jul 8
- 34 Surprising Causes of Pain — Added a small but good citation to a case study of circulatory impairment in a cyclist causing leg pain (Brindisino). » Jul 5
- The Complete Guide to Chronic Tension Headaches — Proofreading — First top-to-bottom proofreading for this book since launch, catching many minor erros that crept in doing about a dozen updates over the last year and half. » Jul 3
- Mind Over Pain — Science update, novel sensory input section — Added a new sub-section… which is larger than the entire original section. Previously I made the recommendation without much explanation. This update thoroughly explores the scientific rationale. » Jul 2
- Mind Over Pain — New strategy — Added a new sub-section explaining that cultivating ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) is a clear, specific, substantive way to “be kind to your nervous system.” » Jul 2
- Does Craniosacral Therapy Work? — Explored the relevance of autonomous sensory meridian response in a small new section, “More than relaxing: satisfaction guaranteed by autonomous sensory meridian response (weird euphoric head tingles).” » Jul 2
- Zapped! Does TENS work for pain? — Elaborated significantly on the mechanism of action of TENS, especially distinguishing between simple counterstimulation and the "fancier" version of counterstimulation: descending modulation triggered by novel sensory input. » Jun 30
- The Science of Pain-Killers — Added minor clarifications about the upper limits of efficacy, and contraindications for NSAIDs. » Jun 30
- Opioids for Chronic Aches & Pains — New section: “How opioids can cause pain: the insidious trap of downregulation” » Jun 30
- The Complete Guide to IT Band Syndrome — New section, about the “dysfunctionality” of the tensor fascia latae muscle — » Jun 25
- Mind Over Pain — New section, about analgesic catharsis or “emotional release” — » Jun 24
- Does Acupuncture Work for Pain? — Science update: acknowledged the drafted change in acupuncture recommendations from the UK’s influential guidelines from the National Institute for Health Care Excellence (NICE). » Jun 24
- Complete Guide to Plantar Fasciitis — Added information — Added extra detail about the implications of what little data we have, in particular about the unsolved riddle of whether low versus high estrogen is the risk factor. » Jun 24
- Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements for Pain & Healing — Added minor new citation and commentary: “Survey says most people don’t care what the science says.” » Jun 23
- Mind Over Pain — New section, different mind-over-pain perspectives — » Jun 18
- Pain is Weird — Focus! — Migrated a large portion of this article to a new page dedicated to the topic of Mind Over Pain. It was just getting out of hand, trying to cover both the weirdness of pain and it’s mind-over-pain implications all on one page. » Jun 17
- Complete Guide to Frozen Shoulder — Proofreading — It was time for an annual book tune-up: a few dozen minor errors have been corrected. » Jun 17
- Complete Guide to Frozen Shoulder — Science update — Small but fascinating science update about Ascani et al, exploring a possible link between frozen shoulder and COVID. » Jun 12
- Neurodynamic Stretching — Miscellaneous editing and revision after publication as an independent article. Added artwork and pull quotes. » Jun 10
- Mind Over Pain — New section, on limiting pain talk — » Jun 8
- Knee Replacement Surgery Doubts — New section based on Hamilton et al: “Confidence and optimism versus the truth.” » Jun 8
- Pain is Weird — New section — Third of three new or rebooted sections about pain chronification and the types of chronic pain. » Jun 7
- Pain is Weird — New section — Second of three new or rebooted sections about pain chronification and the types of chronic pain. This one particularly fills a gap I have known about for ages, and I’m delighted to finally fill it. » Jun 7
The last 20 blog posts
- Tinnitus, pain, and the Zen of Suffering » Sep 24, 21
- Can the mind freeze shoulders? Five studies [member post] » Sep 21, 21
- Can we think the pain away? » Sep 18, 21
- Vaginismus Awareness Day » Sep 15, 21
- PainSci Update Roundup (Sep 14, 2021) » Sep 14, 21
- Demon tries to inhabit my body » Sep 10, 21
- When is it safe and helpful to resume what you love? » Sep 10, 21
- Exercise, steroids, and shoulder pain that might be tendinitis [STUDY, PREMIUM] » Sep 8, 21
- Is fibromyalgia a “wastebasket” diagnosis? » Sep 3, 21
- Medicine is not the “third leading cause of death” in the US » Sep 1, 21
- Resilience as victim-blaming bullshit [premium post] » Aug 28, 21
- Can we stop now? Nope! » Aug 27, 21
- MRI use versus abuse » Aug 27, 21
- Back pain isn’t about being “unstable” » Aug 27, 21
- Many surgeries aren’t evidence-based [STUDY] » Aug 26, 21
- Bizarre case of mouth pain, with an explanation and a solution [Premium Post] » Aug 24, 21
- “Plantaris hypertonia” as a cause of runner’s knee: a good example of a bad idea » Aug 20, 21
- Futuristic brain implant kills rat pain [STUDY] » Aug 17, 21
- Mysterious butt pain and making syndromes from symptoms » Aug 12, 21
- Victory over vicious eyelid twitching » Aug 10, 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.
- Relationship between pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, and self-efficacy in patients with frozen shoulder: a cross-sectional study. Hirata et al., 2021, J Orthop Surg Res. » added Sep 2021
- Common elective orthopaedic procedures and their clinical effectiveness: umbrella review of level 1 evidence. Blom et al., 2021, BMJ. » added Jul 2021
- Photobiomodulation therapy is not better than placebo in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Guimarães et al., 2021, Pain. » added Jul 2021
- Lower-Limb Pain Differentiation by a Physical Therapist in an Amateur Cyclist: A Case Report. Brindisino et al., 2021, JOSPT Cases. » added Jul 2021
- Pain mechanisms: a new theory. Melzack et al., 1965, Science. » added Jun 2021
- A prototype closed-loop brain-machine interface for the study and treatment of pain. Zhang et al., 2021, Nat Biomed Eng. » added Jun 2021
- Differences in Knee and Hip Adduction and Hip Muscle Activation in Runners With and Without Iliotibial Band Syndrome. Baker et al., 2018, PM R. » added Jun 2021
- Users' views of dietary supplements. Blendon et al., 2013, JAMA Intern Med. » added Jun 2021
- Can Adhesive Capsulitis of the shoulder be a consequence of COVID-19? Case series of 12 patients. Ascani et al., 2021, J Shoulder Elbow Surg. » added Jun 2021
- Patients follow three distinct outcome trajectories following total knee arthroplasty. Hamilton et al., 2021, Bone Joint J. » added Jun 2021
- Aromatherapy for health care: an overview of systematic reviews. Lee et al., 2012, Maturitas. » added May 2021
- No effect of creatine monohydrate supplementation on inflammatory and cartilage degradation biomarkers in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Cornish et al., 2018, Nutr Res. » added May 2021
- Massive pulmonary emboli after legs massage. Jabr et al., 2007, Am J Phys Med Rehabil. » added May 2021
- Massaging the outcome: an unusual presentation of pulmonary embolism. Lim et al., 2009, BMJ Case Rep. » added May 2021
- Leg massage during pregnancy with unrecognized deep vein thrombosis could be life threatening: a case report. Sutham et al., 2020, BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. » added May 2021
- The CANBACK trial: a randomised, controlled clinical trial of oral cannabidiol for people presenting to the emergency department with acute low back pain. Bebee et al., 2021, Med J Aust. » added May 2021
- Benefits of adding stretching to a moderate-intensity aerobic exercise programme in women with fibromyalgia: a randomized controlled trial. Gómez-Hernández et al., 2020, Clin Rehabil. » added Apr 2021
- The Impact of a Single Stretching Session on Running Performance and Running Economy: A Scoping Review. Konrad et al., 2020, Front Physiol. » added Apr 2021
- Effect of Motor Skill Training in Functional Activities vs Strength and Flexibility Exercise on Function in People With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial. van Dillen et al., 2021, JAMA Neurology. » added Apr 2021
- Acupuncture or acupressure for induction of labour. Smith et al., 2017, Cochrane Database Syst Rev. » added Apr 2021
