UNASSIGNED: To assess pain outcomes, stress levels and body awareness among patients with chronic pain and explore potential associations between these variables.
UNASSIGNED: An explorative study.
UNASSIGNED: Patients with chronic pain in primary and specialist care were assessed regarding pain intensity using the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS; 0-10 point scale) and stress levels using the Stress and Crisis Inventory (SCI-93; 0-140). To assess body awareness, multidimensional assessment of interoceptive awareness (MAIA; 0-5), a widely used self-report measure of interoceptive bodily awareness was used.
UNASSIGNED: Participants (n = 42) reported an average NRS of 4.4, elevated stress levels and low body awareness. Stress levels were moderately correlated with pain intensity (r = 0.53; p < 0.001; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.25-0.72) and number of pain sites (r = 0.58; p < 0.001; 95% CI 0.32-0.76). The regression analysis showed that pain outcomes predicted stress level scores and explained almost 50% of variance (R 2 = 0.47, p < 0.001). Moreover, shorter pain duration predicted a higher body awareness (p = 0.04).
UNASSIGNED: In patients with chronic pain, high pain intensity and multiple painful sites seem to be associated with impaired stress regulation. The patients had low body awareness, which was negatively influenced by pain duration.

UNASSIGNED: This study was conducted to explore the differences in functional changes in the pain matrix in patients with chronic back pain (CBP) at different stages and identify whether these brain changes were related to the pain duration.
UNASSIGNED: In this study, 29 healthy individuals and 54 patients with CBP were recruited. According to the pain duration, 25 patients (3 to 12 months) were divided into the CBP-S group and 29 patients (≥ 24 months) were divided into the CBP-L group. All subjects completed clinical pain-related measurement and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Moreover, the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), functional connectivity (FC), and correlation analysis were conducted in this study.
UNASSIGNED: Compared with healthy controls, patients in the CBP-L group showed significantly decreased ALFF in the left precuneus. In the FC analysis, patients in the CBP-S and CBP-L groups showed significantly decreased FC in several regions in the bilateral orbitofrontal cortices (OFC) and the left ventral posterior insula. Moreover, there were significant differences in the FC between the left hyper granular insula and the probabilistic area in OFC in pairwise group comparisons. The correlation analysis results demonstrated that pain duration was correlated with these functional brain changes, and the ANCOVA results revealed that pain intensity and pain interference scores did not affect the FC analysis results.
UNASSIGNED: There are different changes in the pain neural matrix in patients with chronic pain at different stages. Furthermore, the pain duration is related to brain functional changes.

Physical activity in its various forms are the most recommended prevention and treatment strategy for chronic low back pain (CLBP). Standing postural stability is a prerequisite for many types of physical activities. Systematic reviews have investigated the evidence for an association between CLBP and postural stability but results remain inconclusive.
Our primary objective was to compare postural stability between pain-free controls and subjects with CLBP with or without leg pain and single and multisite chronic musculoskeletal pain subjects. The secondary objectives were to evaluate the association between postural stability with CLBP intensity and duration, demographics, physical characteristics and validated health and pain-related patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs).
Cross-sectional study in a private chiropractic clinic setting PATIENT SAMPLE: Subjects included 42 pain-free controls and 187 patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain divided into CLBP with or without leg pain and single and multisite pain groups.
Pain intensity was measured using the numerical pain rating scale, PROMs Central Sensitization Inventory, Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia, The Depression Scale, EuroQol-5D, Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire, and Pain and Sleep Questionnaire Three-Item Index disability. Group differences were measured using area and velocity of sway on the force plate.
Postural stability was assessed using a force plate on four 60-second bipedal quiet stance tests: eyes open on a stable surface, eyes closed on a stable surface, eyes open on an unstable foam surface, eyes closed on an unstable foam surface. Following the clinic visit, subjects completed an online web-based data entry detailing pain history, demographic data, physical characteristics, pain intensity via the numerical pain rating scale, and PROMS.
Postural sway parameters did not differ between pain-free controls and subjects with CLBP with or without leg pain and single and multisite chronic musculoskeletal pain subjects. Furthermore, severity and duration of CLBP pain in addition to central sensitization, kinesiophobia, depression, quality of life, disability, and effect of pain on sleep only had very weak associations with postural stability.
Chronic musculoskeletal pain appears not to influence bipedal postural stability.

Increased evidence indicates that pain location affects central sensitization (CS)-related symptoms. In addition, pain location and pain duration may be intricately related to CS-related symptoms. However, these factors have been investigated separately. This study aimed to investigate the association between CS-related symptoms and pain location and/or pain duration in patients with musculoskeletal disorders.
Six hundred thirty-five participants with musculoskeletal disorders were included in this cross-sectional study. All participants were assessed for pain location, pain duration, central sensitization inventory (CSI), EuroQol-5 dimension, and brief pain inventory. The participants were categorized into 3 groups based on pain location (spinal, limb, and both spinal and limb pain) and into 2 groups based on pain duration (acute and chronic pain).
The interaction between pain location and pain duration were not significant on CSI score (P > 0.05). The odds ratio for higher CSI score (≥ 40) in patients with both spinal and limb pain vs. those with spinal or limb pain was 2.64 (P < 0.01) and that in patients with chronic pain vs. those with acute pain was 1.31 (P = 0.52). In addition, the prevalence of higher CSI scores in the combination of chronic and \"both spinal and limb\" pain was high (23.1%, adjusted residual = 4.48).
Pain location independently influenced CSI scores, and the combination of both spinal and limb pain and chronic pain indicated high CSI scores. The combination of pain location and pain duration is an important clue that points to CS-related symptoms.

Accumulating evidence from neuroimaging studies has supported that chronic pain could induce changes in brain function. However, few studies have focused on the dynamic regional homogeneity (dReHo) of trigeminal neuralgia (TN). In this study, twenty-eight TN patients and 28 healthy controls (HC) were included. Based on the resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI), we detected abnormalities in dReHo in the TN patients. Patients with TN had decreased dReHo in the left middle temporal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and precentral gyrus, and increased dReHo in the thalamus. Furthermore, the increase in dReHo in the thalamus was positively correlated with duration of TN (r = 0.485, p = 0.012). These results provide compelling evidence for abnormal resting-state brain activity in TN and suggest that the duration of TN may play a critical role in brain function.

OBJECTIVE: This case-control study aimed to compare patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and healthy controls in terms of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) considering Graded Chronic Pain Scale (GCPS) scores, pain duration, psychological impairment and demographic characteristics.
METHODS: A total of 75 patients with TMD and 75 healthy controls were recruited. The short version of Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) was administered for evaluating the OHRQoL. Psychosocial impairments were assessed using the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28). The Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) axis I and II were also used for patient diagnosis and collecting GCPS scores, pain duration, age and gender. Independent-sample t tests, Pearson\'s chi-square tests and multiple logistic and linear regression models were applied for statistical analysis.
RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 34.3±12.4 years. A female-to-male ratio of 6:1 was seen in the TMD group. The prevalence and severity of the OHIP were significantly different between the TMD and control groups (66.7% vs 12.0% and 18.0 vs 9.2, respectively). According to multiple logistic regression for OHIP prevalence and multiple linear regression for OHIP severity in the TMD group, GCPS scores and pain duration, followed by psychological impairment, were the most important predictors of the OHRQoL.
CONCLUSIONS: TMD negatively affected the OHRQoL, particularly in patients with psychological impairments. Meanwhile, age and gender did not seem to have a serious effect. Hence, promoting the quality of life of patients with TMD requires emphasis on chronic pain management and maintaining good mental health.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the influence of the shaping technique on incidence, intensity, duration and type of postoperative pain (PP).
METHODS: Root canal treatments were carried out with rotary instrumentation (n=80) during a single-visit, and data about pre-treatment conditions were collected. Patients were given a questionnaire to record the presence or absence of post-endodontic pain, its duration and level of discomfort. A matching patient (same pre-treatment conditions but manual instrumentation) was randomly selected from a pool (n = 374) and assigned to the control group. A total of 44 pairs of patients matched completely and were included in the study. Incidence (yes/no) of PP was assessed using Chi-square tests, intensity (mild, moderate, severe) with trend tests and duration (days) with Mann-Whitney U tests.
RESULTS: A significantly greater proportion of the patients in the control group reported pain than did patients in the rotary shaping group (p < 0.05). However, pain duration was shorter (p = 0.008) in the control group. Differences in level of discomfort were not statistically significant.
CONCLUSIONS: The results of this prospective in vivo study suggest that a higher incidence of PP should be expected after manual root canal preparation. However a second major finding of the study is that when present, PP after a rotary canal preparation is expected to last longer.
CONCLUSIONS: There has been an increase in the use of rotary techniques among dentists in recent years. The present study analyses the differences in the incidence and characteristics of postoperative pain that should be expected after rotary canal preparation compared to traditional manual methods that had not been reported yet.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the probability of the incidence, intensity, duration and triggering of post-endodontic pain, considering factors related to the patient (age, gender, medical evaluation) and to the affected tooth (group, location, number of canals, pulp vitality, preoperative pain, periapical radiolucencies, previous emergency access, presence of occlusal contacts with antagonist).
METHODS: A total of 500 one-visit root canal treatments (RCTs) were performed on patients referred to an endodontist. Shaping of root canals was performed manually with Gates-Glidden drills and K-Flexofiles, and apical patency was maintained with a size 10 file. A 5% NaOCl solution was used for irrigation, and canals were filled with lateral compaction and AH-Plus sealer. Independent factors were recorded during the treatment, and characteristics of post-endodontic pain (incidence, intensity, type and duration) were later surveyed through questionnaires. Of the 500 questionnaires, 374 were properly returned and split in two groups for two different statistical purposes: 316 cases were used to adjust the logistic regression models to predict each characteristic of post-endodontic pain using predictive factors, and the remaining 58 cases were used to test the validity of each model.
RESULTS: The predictive models showed that the incidence of post-endodontic pain was significantly lower when the treated tooth was not a molar (P = 0.003), demonstrated periapical radiolucencies (P = 0.003), had no history of previous pain (P = 0.006) or emergency endodontic treatment (P = 0.045) and had no occlusal contact (P < 0.0001). The probability of experiencing moderate or severe pain was higher with increasing age (P = 0.09) and in mandibular teeth (P = 0.045). The probability of pain lasting more than 2 days was increased with age (P = 0.1) and decreased in males (P = 0.007) and when a radiolucent lesion was present on radiographs (P = 0.1).
CONCLUSIONS: Predictive formulae for the incidence, the intensity and the duration of post-endodontic pain were generated and validated taking account of the interrelation of multiple concomitant clinical factors. A predictive model for triggering post-endodontic pain could not be established.