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 225)
- 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
- Vulnerability to Chronic Pain » Jun 2019
- Painful Lessons » Jun 2019
- Achilles Tendinitis Treatment Science » 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 30 articles & books in 113 days, breaking down into 22 major updates, 12 medium, 16 minor (use the button below to include/exclude the medium and minor updates). That’s an update every 2.3 days in recent history; there have been 2102 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.
- Marijuana for Pain — I consider most single citation updates to be minor, but this one is a bigger deal: Bebee et al, a decisively negative, well-designed trial of pure CBD for back pain, noteworthy for several reasons. » May 8
- Vibration Therapies, from Massage Guns to Jacuzzis — A stronger focus on massage guns, and much more detailed analysis of the science of vibration preventing muscle soreness. There’s a new section about whole body vibration. I also elaborated on exactly how vibration might be useful for frozen shoulder. Plus several other minor improvements. » May 7
- Marijuana for Pain — Added a citation about the prevalence of reasons for using cannabis. Added two new short sections: “CBD versus THC for pain,” “So many studies, so little good science.” Added a point about cannabis versus cannabis-based medications. » May 7
- Modality Empires — New section: “What are the alternatives? Academic continuing education.” » May 6
- Marijuana for Pain — Wrote a new intro, expanded on the pain evidence, added a short new section about anxiolytic effects, and a whimsical sidebar about a bizarre headache “caused” by cannabis. » May 4
- Anxiety & Chronic Pain — Some fresh new references about cannabis as an anti-anxiety medication. » May 4
- Quite a Stretch — New section, stretching for cramps — » May 3
- Quite a Stretch — Rebooted — Over the last couple weeks, this article has been upgraded and expanded in many ways. It is now about 33,000 words long, which gives it the dubious distinction of being the first PainSci article to match the length of the shortest PainSci book. Henceforth, I will call this page a “book.” » May 3
- Quite a Stretch — New section, ballistic stretching — » May 2
- Quite a Stretch — Rewritten — Much more and clearer information about other types of stretching, with new references, plus a rewritten explanation of allegedly “advanced” stretching. » May 1
- Quite a Stretch — Science update — Added citations about neck pain, fibromyalgia, headache, runner’s knee. » Apr 30
- Quite a Stretch — Science update — Added two citations to systematic reviews of research on proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. » Apr 30
- Trigger Point Doubts — Just a good round of polish and editing. » Apr 29
- Can Supplements Help Arthritis and Other Aches and Pains? — Proofreading and editorial polish: corrected about 20 minor errors. » Apr 28
- The Respiration Connection — Proofreading and editorial polish: corrected about 16 minor errors. » Apr 28
- Quite a Stretch — Completely rewritten — A total reboot of my coverage of the topic of sensory tolerance for stretch. » Apr 27
- Quite a Stretch — New section — A tour of all the major ways that flexibility supposedly works. » Apr 27
- Quite a Stretch — Major revision — The introduction to flexibility has not been completely re-written, but close: thoroughly revised and tuned to reflect many changes in this part of the article. » Apr 27
- Quite a Stretch — Major updates — Extensive improvements: more sub-topics, more references, more detail. Also added a good anecdote about stretching too much. » Apr 27
- Quite a Stretch — New section, nerve stretching — » Apr 25
- Quite a Stretch — Science update — Added a bunch more detail and references about the negative effects of stretch on performance. » Apr 20
- Does Acupuncture Work for Pain? — New section, “Bonus acupuncture myth: no, acupuncture cannot induce labour in pregnant women.” » Apr 17
- The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) — Substantial batch of minor corrections. » Apr 14
- Does Massage Therapy Work? — Added a myth — Added an old massage myth I should have added long ago: the idea that rubbing certain acupuncture points can induce labour. It really can’t. Just not a thing. » 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
The last 20 blog posts
- 20 years of writing about stretching » May 5, 21
- COVID wrecks people » May 4, 21
- An inflammatory interview » Apr 29, 21
- Motor skills training for back pain is mediocre at best » Apr 21, 21
- The great-power gafont_narrow mbit » Apr 14, 21
- Chronic pain has a purpose: hypervigilance against predation (at least) » Apr 14, 21
- 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
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.
- 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
- 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
