What’s New?
New featured articles, updates to articles, recent blog posts, and noteworthy new citations on PainScience.com
I have actively expanded and upgraded this website since the early 2000s, and I’m still going strong 15 years later. Relevant new science is published constantly. Unlike almost all blogs, content is not posted and forgotten. There is a blog here, but it’s just where I share insights and interesting news as I work on bigger projects: featured articles and topic primers, massive self-help guides and tutorials, a vast bibliography. I tend an endless to-do list like a garden, and corrections and mea culpas are a particularly high priority. Although I’d already been doing all this for ages, in 2016 I (finally) began logging all updates, mostly so that I could promote them here: a record of everything significant that’s new or changed lately. ~ Paul Ingraham, Publisher
The 15 newest featured articles on PainScience.com (out of 236)
- Why does it hurt? Articles about how pain works » Dec 14, 16
- Where does it hurt? Guides to specific injuries and other painful problems » Dec 14, 16
- What works for pain? Articles about treatments, therapies, and rehab for pain and injury » Dec 14, 16
- Chronic, Subtle, Systemic Inflammation » Sep 8, 16
- Opioids for Chronic Aches & Pains » Jul 16, 16
- When to Worry About Neck Pain…and when not to! » Jul 2, 16
- IT Band Syndrome: Does the iliotibial band move after all? » Jun 30, 16
- What if You Could Wipe the Chronic Pain Slate Clean? » Jun 15, 16
- Trigger Points on Trial » Jun 1, 16
- The Trigger Point Identity Crisis » Jun 1, 16
- Painfully Odd Google Searches » May 31, 16
- Frozen Shoulder Guide » May 2, 16
- Icing, Heating & Tissue Temperature » Apr 5, 16
- Zapped! Does TENS work for pain? » Apr 1, 16
The last 50 updates to featured articles and tutorials (of 965 total logged updates)
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. Complete update logging started in the summer of 2016. Prior to that, I only logged major updates for the most popular and controversial articles.
hide 22 minor updates
- Running on Pavement is Risky — The premise of this article needs questioning. I’ve added a prominent, important caution to the introduction about the lack of evidence that any running surface is actually risky. I also removed and changed some a few particularly overconfident statements about injury risk. Major revisions forthcoming. » Dec 22, 16
- Does Acupuncture Work for Pain? — Science updated — added citation to the NICE guidelines for low back pain. » Dec 21, 16
- Many Pages — Three new PainScience.com indexes based on subject categories: conditions, treatments, and explanations for pain. » Dec 19, 16
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong With Massage? — Minor reorganization of the article; added a couple more examples. » Dec 10, 16
- Massage Therapy for Neck Pain, Chest Pain, Arm Pain, and Upper Back Pain — Edited for clarity. » Dec 10, 16
- The Tyranny of Yoga and Meditation! — Science update: added a citation to Bower et al, which is very positive about the health benefits of mind-body therapies — a welcome injection of optimism into this article. » Dec 8, 16
- 12 Surprising Causes of Pain — New conclusion, with both discouraging and encouraging perspectives, taken from a recent blog post about the challenge of medically unexplained symptoms. » Dec 8, 16
- Strength Training Frequency — Significant science update, with substantive commentary on Schoenfeld et al and Timmons. » Dec 8, 16
- Chronic, Subtle, Systemic Inflammation — New section devoted to a significantly upgraded exploration of the link between stress and inflammation. » Dec 8, 16
- Save Yourself from Low Back Pain! — Science update — Added commentary on the “do not offer” acupuncture recommendation in the new NICE guidelines for back pain. » Dec 6, 16
- Many Pages — Major improvements to printing of all PainScience.com pages. My apologies to visitors and customers who have been less than thrilled with their printing efforts. » Dec 6, 16
- Pain & Injury Survival Tips — Minor addition — A note about aquajogging. » Dec 5, 16
- Many Pages — Updates to help pages and customer information about offline reading options for PainScience.com tutorials. » Dec 5, 16
- The Runner’s Knee Diagnostic Stand-Off — Significant revision. The article now gets to the point quicker, and is less wordy overall. Several side points were been moved into footnotes. Added some links and a couple citations. » Dec 3, 16
- Complete Guide to Tension Headaches — Added table to intro concisely contrasting tension headache with migraine — simple but quite useful for many visitors, I hope. Also added a more detailed version later in the tutorial. » Dec 2, 16
- Zapped! Does TENS work for pain? — Added a mobile-only article summary. Added a paragraph about sensation-enhanced placebo. » Dec 1, 16
- Placebo Power Hype — New section: “Sensation-enhanced placebo: the basis for most therapies for pain.” » Dec 1, 16
- Vitamin D for Pain — Major update. Total renovation of this article continues with many additions and changes today: several citations and footnotes, some important new key points, some less important but interesting tangents, more specific recommendations, and a lot of reorganizing to continue making the page more useful to readers. » Nov 30, 16
- Chronic, Subtle, Systemic Inflammation — Science update, mostly concerning the relationship between inflammation and stress. » Nov 30, 16
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — Added a new section: “Adhesive” may be the wrong word: shrunk, not stuck, based mainly on Nagy and Ozaki for now. Several other minor improvements, most notably a revised treatment introduction, citing Diercks as an interesting example. » Nov 29, 16
- Frozen Shoulder Guide — Added a mobile-only article summary. » Nov 28, 16
- Vitamin D for Pain — Added fun little footnote about the cloudiest places on Earth. I live in one of them… » Nov 27, 16
- Complete Guide to Tension Headaches — Science update — cited Chaibi et al on spinal manipulative therapy for migraine. » Nov 27, 16
- Does Spinal Manipulation Work? — New section: “Spinal manipulative therapy for migraine,” based mainly on Chaibi et al. » Nov 27, 16
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — Science update — Added some useful new indirect evidence about SMT for migraine (Chaibi et al). » Nov 27, 16
- Objectivity is Overrated — A couple additions and some revision. » Nov 26, 16
- Save Yourself from Neck Pain! — Edited — Added some important footnotes and clarifications. » Nov 25, 16
- Insomnia Until it Hurts — Science update, added a citation about the relationship between sleep quality and immunity. » Nov 24, 16
- Does Therapeutic Ultrasound Work? — Big science update — Added a table of summarized recent reviews, including six new citations from the last decade (basically all still about scanty, crappy evidence). Several related editorial changes. » Nov 23, 16
- Zapped! Does TENS work for pain? — Minor science update, added a new review (Desmeules) of TENS for rotator cuff tendinopathy. » Nov 23, 16
- The Pressure Question in Massage Therapy — Added a particularly high quality mobile-only article summary. » Nov 23, 16
- The Power of Barking — Three deep, dorky new sections about the human talent for causality inference and how it leads us astray. (Man, this is a really weird article, but I’m not giving up on it.) » Nov 22, 16
- Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain Syndrome — Science update — Added a few new citations about the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and it’s correlation with chronic pain. » Nov 21, 16
- Vitamin D for Pain — Major update. All new introduction explaining and exploring the link between vitamin D deficiency and chronic pain, with a much greater focus on being of service to readers. Includes discussion of the recent controversy over whether or not vitamin D deficiency is a “pandemic.” » Nov 20, 16
- 12 Surprising Causes of Pain — Added Vitamin D deficiency and chronic low-grade inflammation. » Nov 20, 16
- Can Supplements Help Arthritis and Other Aches and Pains? — Added new section about vitamin D. » Nov 20, 16
- Morning Back Pain — New section about vitamin D deficiency and the nighttime bone pain caused by osteomalacia. » Nov 20, 16
- Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) — Added new sections about vitamin D deficiency and the general concept of excessive DOMS as a symptom of other health problems. » Nov 20, 16
- Homeopathy Schmomeopathy — Additions: a very substantial related reading section, and a new section about the FTC’s new crackdown on homeopathy products. » Nov 19, 16
- Does Arnica Cream Work for Pain? — Minor additions: a sidebar about the FTC’s recent crackdown on homeopathy, some new resources, and news about the North American brand change from “Traumeel” to “T-Relief.” » Nov 19, 16
- Smoking and Chronic Pain — Added a related reading section with links to help with quitting. Added a minor item with citation about smoking being (ironically) a short term pain-killer. » Nov 18, 16
- Pain is Weird — Added sidebar: “We cannot trust our eyes (or pain).” » Nov 18, 16
- Chronic, Subtle, Systemic Inflammation — New treatment option reviewed: vagus nerve stimulation. » Nov 18, 16
- Does Massage Therapy Work? — Minor upgrade — Added an important point about the potential of novel sensory input to treat chronic pain. » Nov 18, 16
- Your Back Is Not Out of Alignment — Content added — Greg Lehman’s “Fundamentals of Treatment” — some specific guidelines for structuralism-free treatment. » Nov 17, 16
- Central Sensitization in Chronic Pain — Added a special sidebar, “Fundamentals of Treatment” — some practical, sensitization-friendly treatment principles for pros. » Nov 17, 16
- 12 Surprising Causes of Pain — Minor addition: a sidebar about “the wilderness of the medically unexplained.” » Nov 16, 16
- Your Back Is Not Out of Alignment — New section — » Nov 16, 16
- Stretching for Trigger Points — Major revision. Almost a rewrite, but not quite: just a thorough re-working and modernization. » Nov 16, 16
- Why So “Negative”? — Added a minor funny note about hate e-mailers who can’t be bothered to specify what they are complaining about. » Nov 16, 16
The last 20 blog posts
- Citation badly needed for “running on pavement is risky” » Dec 22, 16
- An anecdote about the trouble with anecdotes » Dec 21, 16
- What’s your problem? New category indexes » Dec 19, 16
- “Movement quality” still does not clearly predict injury » Dec 6, 16
- The massage pressure question (topic summary example) » Dec 1, 16
- Does vitamin D treat pain? Unknown! Maybe? » Nov 30, 16
- Chiro for migraine fails » Nov 28, 16
- Nervous-wreck monkeys are inflamed » Nov 28, 16
- We’re not just missing some pieces from a puzzle » Nov 25, 16
- Therapeutic ultrasound science is still lame » Nov 25, 16
- Why is exercise healthy? » Nov 24, 16
- Lots of updates about vitamin D, stretching, structuralism and more » Nov 21, 16
- Do not offer » Nov 14, 16
- How much evidence is enough? » Nov 9, 16
- Delayed onset muscle soreness — topic summary example » Nov 7, 16
- An article in Men’s Health by “Paul Ingraham” » Nov 4, 16
- Hotshot in the dark » Nov 1, 16
- Osmosis sucks water, not toxins » Oct 25, 16
- Summaries on the go » Oct 24, 16
- The revenge of the son of the myth of “placebos without deception” » Oct 18, 16
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.
- The efficacy of instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization: a systematic review. Cheatham et al., 2016, J Can Chiropr Assoc. » added Dec 7, 16
- Is thoracic spine posture associated with shoulder pain, range of motion and function? A systematic review. Barrett et al., 2016, Man Ther. » added Dec 7, 16
- Low vitamin D and the risk of developing chronic widespread pain: results from the European male ageing study. McCabe et al., 2016, BMC Musculoskelet Disord. » added Nov 21, 16
- Vagus nerve stimulation inhibits cytokine production and attenuates disease severity in rheumatoid arthritis. Koopman et al., 2016, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. » added Nov 18, 16
- Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Wu et al., 2016, Pain Physician. » added Nov 11, 16
- Patients with neck pain are less likely to improve if they experience poor sleep quality: a prospective study in routine practice. Kovacs et al., 2015, Clin J Pain. » added Oct 14, 16
- A systematic review reveals that the credibility of subgroup claims in low back pain trials was low. Saragiotto et al., 2016, J Clin Epidemiol. » added Oct 14, 16
- Efficacy of manual and manipulative therapy in the perception of pain and cervical motion in patients with tension-type headache: a randomized, controlled clinical trial. Espí-López et al., 2014, J Chiropr Med. » added Oct 11, 16
- Chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy for migraine: a three-armed, single-blinded, placebo, randomized controlled trial. Chaibi et al., 2016, Eur J Neurol. » added Oct 11, 16
- MRI Findings of Disc Degeneration are More Prevalent in Adults with Low Back Pain than in Asymptomatic Controls: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Brinjikji et al., 2015, AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. » added Sep 30, 16
- The long-term outcome of lumbar fusion in the Swedish lumbar spine study. Hedlund et al., 2016, Spine J. » added Sep 26, 16
- Spinal manipulative therapy, Graston technique® and placebo for non-specific thoracic spine pain: a randomised controlled trial. Crothers et al., 2016, Chiropr Man Therap. » added Sep 12, 16
- Auto-Targeted Neurostimulation Is Not Superior to Placebo in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Fourfold Blind Randomized Clinical Trial. Ferrándiz et al., 2016, Pain Physician. » added Aug 31, 16
- Frozen shoulder: long-term outcome following arthrographic distension. Clement et al., 2013, Acta Orthop Belg. » added Aug 13, 16
- Sensitivity and sensitisation in relation to pain severity in knee osteoarthritis: trait or state? Neogi et al., 2015, Ann Rheum Dis. » added Aug 12, 16
- The circadian clock regulates inflammatory arthritis. Hand et al., 2016, FASEB J. » added Aug 12, 16
- Are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs effective for the management of neck pain and associated disorders, whiplash-associated disorders, or non-specific low back pain? A systematic review of systematic reviews by the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration. Wong et al., 2016, Eur Spine J. » added Aug 9, 16
- Arthrographic distension for adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder). Buchbinder et al., 2008, Cochrane Database Syst Rev. » added Aug 5, 16
- Exercise therapy versus arthroscopic partial meniscectomy for degenerative meniscal tear in middle aged patients: randomised controlled trial with two year follow-up. Kise et al., 2016, BMJ. » added Aug 3, 16
- Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Schoenfeld et al., 2016, J Sports Sci. » added Jul 25, 16
