Pain is an intrinsically difficult sensation to define, measure, and understand. Pain can be physical or mental, and research has highlighted significant similarities in the neural networks that process social pain and physiological injury. All experience this evolutionary by-product. Yet, only the sufferer can describe and know the individual experience of suffering, making it both objective and subjective within the same note. In addition, pain can be acute or a chronic and long-standing affliction. The combination of these attributes has made the pain a complex field to research.
Among non-pharmacological approaches, stimulation techniques and psychological strategies have proven effective in chronic pain management. Meanwhile, imaging studies have been advantageous when mapping out the neurological areas associated with pain. These discoveries have been pivotal to increasing our understanding of pain. However, there are still vast gaps in the current research and management of pain. In particular, the side effects of the prescribed drugs involved in treating chronic pain can lead to long-standing health issues, with a primary focus on modulating the impact of pain rather than the cause. This collection hopes that focusing on the neural pathways involved with mental, physical, acute, and chronic pain will improve pain management.
This collection aims to increase understanding of pain and pain management from a neuroanatomical perspective via brain stimulation techniques. This Research Topic hopes to unveil research that will aid the treatment of chronic and acute pain by understanding the neurological pathways involved in both the cause and the alleviation of pain.
The Topic includes but is not limited to:
• Imaging studies on the methods of alleviation, including acupuncture and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)
• Stimulation techniques (such as tDCS) and cognitive-behavioral, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for the management of pain and its mood disorders (emotional pain)
• Investigatory research on brain activation during holistic approaches to pain relief
• Structural changes associated with Chronic pain
Pain is an intrinsically difficult sensation to define, measure, and understand. Pain can be physical or mental, and research has highlighted significant similarities in the neural networks that process social pain and physiological injury. All experience this evolutionary by-product. Yet, only the sufferer can describe and know the individual experience of suffering, making it both objective and subjective within the same note. In addition, pain can be acute or a chronic and long-standing affliction. The combination of these attributes has made the pain a complex field to research.
Among non-pharmacological approaches, stimulation techniques and psychological strategies have proven effective in chronic pain management. Meanwhile, imaging studies have been advantageous when mapping out the neurological areas associated with pain. These discoveries have been pivotal to increasing our understanding of pain. However, there are still vast gaps in the current research and management of pain. In particular, the side effects of the prescribed drugs involved in treating chronic pain can lead to long-standing health issues, with a primary focus on modulating the impact of pain rather than the cause. This collection hopes that focusing on the neural pathways involved with mental, physical, acute, and chronic pain will improve pain management.
This collection aims to increase understanding of pain and pain management from a neuroanatomical perspective via brain stimulation techniques. This Research Topic hopes to unveil research that will aid the treatment of chronic and acute pain by understanding the neurological pathways involved in both the cause and the alleviation of pain.
The Topic includes but is not limited to:
• Imaging studies on the methods of alleviation, including acupuncture and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)
• Stimulation techniques (such as tDCS) and cognitive-behavioral, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for the management of pain and its mood disorders (emotional pain)
• Investigatory research on brain activation during holistic approaches to pain relief
• Structural changes associated with Chronic pain