Could Brain Response to Chronic Pain Improve Treatment in the Future?

Chronic pain affects one-third of people in the United States. The most common treatments include medications, acupuncture, local electrical stimulation, and brain stimulation, but there is nothing to permanently rid the ongoing discomfort.

Doctors at the University of Adelaide in Australia believe that the answer for more effective treatment lies in neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to change structurally and functionally with experience and use. Similar to the U.S., 20% of Australian adults suffer from moderate to severe chronic pain.

"The mechanisms responsible for the development of chronic pain are poorly understood," said Dr. Ann-Maree Vallence of the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute, in a news release. "While most research focuses on changes in the spinal cord, this research investigates the role of brain plasticity in the development of chronic pain."

Dr. Vallence conducted a study on patients at the Robinson Institute's Neuromotor Plasticity and Development Group to help support her brain plasticity assessment. The patients in the study suffered from chronic tension-type headache, or CTTH, which is a common chronic pain disorder occurring 15 days or more per month. The headache is a constant feeling of pressure on both sides of the head, resulting in a lack of sleep, irritability, interrupted memory and concentration, depression, and anxiety.

These patients were given a motor training test involving thumb movements. They were required to move their thumb as fast as they could in a specific direction, and the researchers noted their ability to perform and learn the task along with measuring neuroplasticity with a non-invasive brain stimulation technique.

Dr. Vallence and her researchers administered this test because motor training improvement is linked to neuroplastic change in the brain. The participants who had no history of chronic pain improved as time went on, as opposed to those who suffered from chronic pain. These results are believed to show a relationship between chronic pain and neuroplasticity, which could be crucial for future treatment following further research on the topic.