What is it about?
Pain is a common problem encountered following a new neurological injury. It impacts people’s quality of life and ability to engage in the world around then. In other groups of people who experience pain, mental health, coping strategies and their beliefs regarding pain have been shown to be linked to their pain and even shown to influence how bad their pain is. This study looked specifically at people who had a new neurological injury (stroke or spinal cord injury) when they first had their injury and then 6 months later to see how the pain could be linked to psychological factors.
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Why is it important?
Pain can be distressing for people who experience it. Knowing what factors can impact the pain may lead to new treatment approaches that mean the burden of pain is lessened. Not a lot of research has looked at psychological factors and pain over time in people with a new neurological injury. This is a gap in the literature and it may mean there is a need that is not being seen. By researching this area it may influence what treatment approaches are implemented for this group of people.
Perspectives
I work with people with a new neurological injury everyday in my clinical role and I’ve seen the impact pain can have on their rehabilitation and, also, the other areas of their lives. During my time working at a pain management centre I was impressed by the positive results that their program had. This approach was more holistic and looked at the biomedical, psychological and social areas in relation to their pain. I wanted to look for the same type of approach for people with a new neurological injury but saw that there was a lack of longitudinal studies. While this study can only be considered preliminary, it does show a link between these factors early in a person’s injury and an association with their longer term experience of pain.
Mark Adams
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A cohort study of the association between psychosocial factors and pain in patients with Spinal Cord Injury and Stroke, Neurorehabilitation, December 2019, IOS Press,
DOI: 10.3233/nre-192872.
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