Chronic pain is one of the leading causes of disability, affecting millions of people worldwide. Despite its high impact and consecutive burden on both personal and social levels, the underlying physiology is still poorly understood, with many neural mechanisms remaining unknown. The lack of knowledge in this field may hinder the development of effective strategies- both pharmacological and non-pharmacological - for pain relief, worsening the quality of life for those living with chronic pain.

Recent advances in biomedical instrumentation for physiological signals monitoring may help in better understanding the pathophysiology underlying chronic pain. From advanced neuroimaging to wearable sensors, there are diverse modalities to observe the physiology of individuals suffering from chronic pain, along with various settings in which they can be monitored. These tools can provide unprecedented insights into the complex interactions between neural, physiological, and psychological factors in chronic pain.

The goal of this Research Topic is to collect innovative strategies to gain insights into the physiology of chronic pain.

Potential areas of interest may include, but are not limited to:

● Assessment of invasive procedures, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS), cortex stimulation, and spinal cord stimulation (SCS), and non-invasive procedures, like transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), for reducing chronic pain;
● Neuroimaging techniques for chronic pain;
● Wearable technology for pain assessment in real-world environment;
● Automatic methods for objective pain assessment – Machine Learning and Deep Learning applications;
● Impact of brain aging on pain perception and management;
● Emotional process of chronic pain: Psychological and physiological assessment.

We encourage all interested researchers to submit a manuscript summary before submitting their manuscript. These short abstract-like summaries do not have to coincide with the final abstract of the manuscripts. Their purpose is to serve as a summary for the article you plan to submit.

Are you interested in contributing a manuscript to this Research Topic?

Pain Physiology: Innovative Methods and Technologies to Assess and Treat Chronic Pain