Innovative treatments for chronic pain

Abstract

The brain produces pain; it is the result of an interaction between information from our senses with our beliefs, memories and feelings. It is critical for survival, providing a warning that there is an actual or potential threat to the body, triggering defensive behaviours to protect against tissue damage or harm. Unfortunately for many people pain can become ?stuck?, persisting long past the time when it has any useful purpose as a warning of harm. Our research is focused on low back pain, the leading cause of disability worldwide and the most common reason for chronic pain. It is directed towards understanding why many people with low back pain do not recover normally and develop chronic low back pain. Our goal is to develop and test new treatment approaches that are aimed to prevent people from developing chronic pain and to more effectively help those that have.