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 article index, and sitemap.
I have been expanding and upgrading this website since the early 2000s, and full-time since 2010. Useful new references are added almost daily. I am always working on an endless list of improvements. 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 237)
- 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
- Knee Replacement Surgery Doubts » Feb 2019
- Deep Cervical Flexor Training » Oct 2018
- Cold Laser Therapy Reviewed » Sep 2018
- 💩 Massage Therapists Say » Sep 2017
- Dupuytren’s Contracture » Jul 2017
- Get in the Pool for Pain » Jan 2017
- A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia » Jan 2017
- Cramps, Spasms, Tremors & Twitches » Nov 2016
- Science versus Experience in Musculoskeletal Medicine » Nov 2016
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 22 articles in 84 days, breaking down into 25 major updates, 12 medium, 12 minor (use the button below to include/exclude the medium and minor updates). That’s an update every 1.7 days in recent history; there have been 1703 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.
- Save Yourself from IT Band Syndrome! — Major upgrade, hip and thigh pain section — Much clearer and more thorough integration of greater trochanteric pain syndrome. » Dec 9
- Complete Guide to Headaches — Book launch — The headache guide has been free since I first introduced it in the early 2013. Six years and hundreds of hours of development later, it joins my inventory of full-blown books. It’s the second addition in 2019 (after frozen shoulder this summer), after years without any new ones. It is now for sale for $20 USD. All existing boxed set customers will have access automatically — someone who bought a set in 2009 is getting a new book out of that purchase a decade later. » Dec 4
- Complete Guide to Headaches — New chapter, all about treating jaw issues — » Dec 3
- The Trouble with Chairs — Science update, added citation to Akins et al on the effect of mutiple days of laziness on exercise benefits (hint: it’s not good). » Nov 30
- Complete Guide to Headaches — New chapter, the role of the jaw in headache — » Nov 28
- Complete Guide to Headaches — New chapter, Muscle relaxants (Robaxin, Robaxacet, etc), psychoactives, and sedatives — » Nov 23
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — New section, cannabinoids (finally) — » Nov 22
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — Minor improvement, functional freezing chapter — Minor but interesting: a couple new paragraphs about joint stiffness as a the non-specific protective mechanism that may be analogous to functional freezing of the shoulder. » Nov 22
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — Major update, muscle relaxants — Added a lot more detail, especially about psychoactive “muscle relaxants,” and many new references. » Nov 21
- Healer Syndrome — Added a substantial discussion of the silly idea that a healer isn’t actually doing the heavy lifting, but is merely facilitating self-healing. » Nov 16
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — New chapter, Muscle relaxants (Robaxin, Robaxacet, etc), psychoactives, and sedatives — » Nov 16
- Complete Guide to Headaches — New chapter, a case study that blurs the line between tension headache and migraine — » Nov 15
- Organ Health Does Not Depend on Spinal Nerves! — Science update — Discussed acute effects of SMT on the parasympathetic nervous system, and cited Picchiottino et al on the lack of clinically significant effects. » Nov 12
- Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain Syndrome — Expanded, other causes of chronic widespread pain — Added two more sub-topics: psychological amplification and true psychosomatic pain. » Nov 12
- Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain Syndrome — Expanded, other causes of regional pain — Added three sub-topics: specific pain system dysfunction, spatial summation, and claudication. » Nov 12
- Complete Guide to Headaches — Science update, subluxation chapter — Added references to support “arthritis isn’t wear-and-tear.” Substantial additional editing and clarifications throughout the chapter. » Nov 12
- Save Yourself from Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome! — Expansion — Previously this chapter was just about massage in general and foam rolling in particular. I’ve widened the scope to address the underlying assumption that there’s a need to “loosen” the quads, and now cover both stretch and massage. » Nov 6
- Get in the Pool for Pain — New section, “Deeper mysteries,” about hard-to-explain effects of immersion on severe chronic pain and fatigue. » Nov 5
- Does Fascia Matter? — New section, a case study of Frank the “adhesion machine” — » Nov 4
- Complete Guide to Headaches — Major upgrade — Much more detailed discussion of spinal manipulative therapy. » Nov 4
- Save Yourself from Plantar Fasciitis! — Science update — Upgraded the rationale and referencing for icing in the absence of acute inflammation. » Nov 1
- Save Yourself from Plantar Fasciitis! — Major science update — Updated the discussion of inflammation with an important new subsection, “The other side of the story: don’t count inflammation out quite yet,” based mainly on the fascinating research of Dakin (among others). » Nov 1
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — Significant revision — To be candid, my comparisons of neck and back pain seemed a little boring and not all that helpful when I reviewed them recently, so I put in some work to make the chapter more useful and interesting. » Oct 31
- Complete Guide to Headaches — Minor maintenance — Updated about a dozen broken links. » Oct 31
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — New chapter, about coarse tissue vibration — » Oct 30
- Complete Guide to Headaches — New section, more exotic cervicogenic headaches — » Oct 28
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — Science update, nature of the beast — Added an interesting reference about a link between carpal tunnel syndrome and heart diease, for context and comparison. » Oct 28
- The Tyranny of Yoga and Meditation! — The first update to this article in more than three years is minor but hilarious: snarking about the corporate yoga prescription thing. » Oct 26
- Anxiety & Chronic Pain — New section, “Maximize outlets for frustration.” » Oct 25
- Save Yourself from Low Back Pain! — Science update — This is probably the final update about antibiotics for back pain. It’s looking pretty closed. Famous last words? We’ll see. » Oct 25
- Strength Training Surprises — Minor but nice addition of a “good news” reference about the permanence of a key exercise benefit. » Oct 24
- Organ Health Does Not Depend on Spinal Nerves! — Added a small section responding to the criticism that this article is attacking a straw man, a belief that modern chiropractors don’t really have. (They really do, actually. In substantial numbers.) » Oct 24
- The Chiropractic Controversies — Added a couple sources regarding the prevalance and persistence of subluxation-based chiropractic, most notably Mirtz et al. » Oct 24
- Complete Guide to Headaches — Expanded — Added digital motion X-ray, homeopathy, supplements, electroacupuncture, and Epsom salts baths to the hall of treatment shame, making it more or less complete for now. » Oct 24
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — Minor addition — Adding a little information about inversion tables for neck traction. » Oct 18
- Complete Guide to Headaches — New section, hall of treatment shame — » Oct 18
- Complete Guide to Headaches — New chapter, aquatic therapy — » Oct 18
- Complete Guide to Headaches — Science update — Added a really huge footnote providing patient and physician guidance on the topic of diagnostic nerve blocks, with several references. » Oct 15
- Complete Guide to Headaches — New intro, etiology — Added a substantive intro the nature-of-the-beast chapters of the tutorial. » Oct 15
- Achilles Tendinitis Treatment Science — New section, “Orthotics for Achilles tendinitis,” based mainly only Munteanu et al. » Oct 11
- Complete Guide to Headaches — New chapter, red wine and other triggers (not just for migraines) — » Oct 7
- Save Yourself from Low Back Pain! — Major revision, hamstring stretching chapter — Although the bottom line remains essentially the same, this chapter is now much higher quality in every way. More information, clearer, and fully up-to-date scientifically. » Oct 4
- Therapeutic “Touch” Is Pseudoscience — Added a sidebar about all the other major vitalistic therapies. Although primarily about “therapeutic touch,” I am gradually turning this article into a more general one about energy medicine. » Sep 28
- Save Yourself from Muscle Strain! — New section, about pathological vulnerability to strains — » Sep 28
- Don’t Worry About Lifting Technique — Science update: cited and discussed Steffens et al on back pain risk factors related to lifting. » Sep 27
- Complete Guide to Headaches — Added more, secondary headaches chapter — Covered CSF leaks, or “upright headache.” » Sep 25
- Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain Syndrome — Rewritten, “meltdown” cases — Completely rewritten to reflect the many things I have learned about severe chornic widespread pain over the last several years. Exploring the concept of chronic-acute pain is probably the most meaningful addition. » Sep 22
- Complete Guide to Headaches — Added more, secondary headaches chapter — Covered aneurysms that masquerade as tension headaches, and important safety-first update. » Sep 22
- Does Epsom Salt Work? — Science updated, magnesium as a pain killer — Cited a more recent review of the science on this topic, Peng. Still negative. Did some related editing. » Sep 21
- Complete Guide to Headaches — New chapter, “Headache, neck pain, and ‘cricks’” — » Sep 20
The last 20 blog posts
- New headache book makes it an even ten » Dec 9, 19
- The power of the NYT, the meaning of “pain is an opinion,” and much ado about nothing » Dec 9, 19
- Quoted in the NYT on the topic of “pain and the mind” » Dec 2, 19
- Muscle relaxants are odd » Nov 26, 19
- Why do joints feel stiff after getting up? » Nov 26, 19
- A nose for pot » Nov 16, 19
- The facile humility of “facilitating” healing » Nov 16, 19
- What if chronic pain is a feature, not a bug? » Nov 12, 19
- The myth of the extremely effective therapist » Nov 9, 19
- Neurosis supplier » Nov 9, 19
- The Strength Athlete interview » Nov 6, 19
- True muscle memory » Nov 6, 19
- Run only a little, live more » Nov 6, 19
- Fish as medicine » Oct 31, 19
- It’s good for touch » Oct 31, 19
- Delayed honesty » Oct 31, 19
- “Try yoga” » Oct 25, 19
- Antibiotics for back pain: still no » Oct 25, 19
- Massage may be lovely, but it’s not “medicine” » Oct 25, 19
- Lessons from the 2019 Nobel prize for medicine » Oct 14, 19
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.
- Inactivity induces resistance to the metabolic benefits following acute exercise. Akins et al., 2019, J Appl Physiol (1985). » added Nov 2019
- [Evidence of the efficacy and safety of cannabis medicines for chronic pain management: A methodological minefield]. Häuser et al., 2019, Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz. » added Nov 2019
- Skeletal Muscles Do Not Undergo Apoptosis During Either Atrophy or Programmed Cell Death-Revisiting the Myonuclear Domain Hypothesis. Schwartz et al., 2018, Front Physiol. » added Nov 2019
- Pain-Free Versus Pain-Threshold Rehabilitation Following Acute Hamstring Strain Injury: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Hickey et al., 2019, J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. » added Oct 2019
- The vagus nerve and the inflammatory reflex—linking immunity and metabolism. Pavlov et al., 2012, Nat Rev Endocrinol. » added Oct 2019
- Pain Neurophysiology Education and Therapeutic Exercise for Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial. Pardo et al., 2018, Arch Phys Med Rehabil. » added Sep 2019
- Blended-Learning Pain Neuroscience Education for People With Chronic Spinal Pain: Randomized Controlled Multicenter Trial. Malfliet et al., 2018, Phys Ther. » added Sep 2019
- A questionnaire survey of muscular symptoms in chronic headache. An age- and sex-controlled study. Lebbink et al., 1991, Clin J Pain. » added Aug 2019
- Mechanical loading inhibits cartilage inflammatory signalling via an HDAC6 and IFT-dependent mechanism regulating primary cilia elongation. Fu et al., 2019, Osteoarthritis Cartilage. » added Aug 2019
- Exercise-induced hypoalgesia: A meta-analysis of exercise dosing for the treatment of chronic pain. Polaski et al., 2019, PLoS One. » added Jul 2019
- Potential role of the common food additive manufactured citric acid in eliciting significant inflammatory reactions contributing to serious disease states: A series of four case reports. Sweis et al., 2018, Toxicol Rep. » added Jul 2019
- Borrelia burgdorferi peptidoglycan is a persistent antigen in patients with Lyme arthritis. Jutras et al., 2019, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. » added Jul 2019
- Glucose enhances aggrecan expression in chondrocytes via the PKCα/p38-miR141-3p signaling pathway. Wu et al., 2018, J Cell Physiol. » added Jul 2019
- Genome-wide association study of multisite chronic pain in UK Biobank. Johnston et al., 2019, PLoS Genet. » added Jul 2019
- A Systematic Review of Dextrose Prolotherapy for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain. Hauser et al., 2016, Clin Med Insights Arthritis Musculoskelet Disord. » added Jun 2019
- A functional substitution in the L-aromatic amino acid decarboxylase enzyme worsens somatic symptoms via a serotonergic pathway. Khoury et al., 2019, Ann Neurol. » added Jun 2019
- Effectiveness of customised foot orthoses for Achilles tendinopathy: a randomised controlled trial. Munteanu et al., 2015, Br J Sports Med. » added Jun 2019
- A randomized controlled trial of exercise and manipulative therapy for cervicogenic headache. Jull et al., 2002, Spine (Phila Pa 1976). » added Jun 2019
- Semantic memory functional MRI and cognitive function after exercise intervention in mild cognitive impairment. Smith et al., 2013, J Alzheimers Dis. » added May 2019
- A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Foam Rolling on Performance and Recovery. Wiewelhove et al., 2019, Front Physiol. » added May 2019
