(15-05-07) Emotional Issues Major Factor in Arthritis Pain

A new study is the first to directly compare the brain areas involved in processing osteoarthritis (OA) pain and experimental pain. The results indicated that emotions play a strong role in how patients feel arthritis pain.
Advances in neuroimaging have led to the discovery that the brain processes pain in a network of brain structures that have been called the pain matrix.
The pain matrix contains two parallel systems: the medial pain system, which processes the emotional aspects of pain, and the lateral system, which processes the physical sensations.
The new study examined 12 patients with knee OA. All subjects had their brain activity measured with positron emission tomography (PET) while experiencing arthritic knee pain, experimental pain achieved by heat application, and while pain-free.
Both pain conditions activated the entire pain matrix. However, activity was increased within the medial pain system of the brain during arthritic pain. This suggests that arthritis pain has a stronger emotional impact than experimental pain.
Arthritis pain also activated areas of the brain that control attention; this may be the result of patients concentrating on coping strategies.
Arthritis & Rheumatism, Vol. 56, No. 4, April 2007: 1345-1354

Source: mercola.com

News

---

In evidenza

"L'informazione presente nel sito serve a migliorare, e non a sostituire, il rapporto medico-paziente."

Per coloro che hanno problemi di salute si consiglia di consultare sempre il proprio medico curante.