New science has transformed the way we think about chronic pain
Breakthroughs in pain science have led to a whole new way of understanding and treating chronic pain.
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Dr. Shaheen Lakhan, MD
Lin Medical Advisor
Brain-based treatment approaches are the evidence-based recommendation for primary pain conditions
While all pain, ultimately, is mediated by the brain, primary pain is pain that is out of proportion to medical findings. This is a very common condition. In the newest medical codes (ICD-11), many chronic pain conditions have been reclassified as a type of primary pain.
Because in primary chronic pain conditions the pain signaling system is over-firing, a brain-based approach that addresses cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns allows us to train our brain to change our experience of pain, and in many cases, reverse it completely.
Primary pain is pain that is produced by the brain. Primary pain can occur even when there is no structural concern and/or when all tissue damage has healed.
This is actually a very common problem. In cases of primary pain, the pain signaling system becomes overly sensitized and sends a disproportionate amount of pain signals.
Often this alarm is sounded when really just a small candle is safely burning or it can sound the alarm without any fire at all.
Because it’s the signaling system that is misfiring, a brain-first solution that addresses cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns allows us to train our brains to change our experience of pain and, in many cases, reverse it completely.
How do I know if a brain-first approach
will work for my patients?
To understanding if a brain-first approach is right for your patients, first determine if they have any of the positive indications of primary pain.
These can include:
Our approach is proven to work
In a recent study of chronic low back pain, 98% of people reduced their pain and 66% were pain free at the end of treatment when treated with a brain-first approach (Pain Reprocessing Therapy). [Read]
In another series of studies, a different brain-first treatment (Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy) has been shown to reduce pain levels in patients with chronic pelvic pain, fibromyalgia and medically unexplained symptoms. [Read]
Only 1 in 10 patients who join Lin still regularly experiences high levels of pain. And 59% of patients with medium-to-high pain reduce their pain to low or no pain after six months.
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