Sensory processing and anxiety characteristics in NSCLBP patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
What trait anxiety and sensory processing profile characteristics do patients with non-specific chronic low back pain with central sensitisation pain have?
IRAS ID
166462
Contact name
Jacqueline R. ("Jacqui") Clark
Contact email
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
166462, IRAS
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Background - Chronic pain is a significant health problem as well as an economic burden in Western industrialized countries. In recent years there has been considerable growth in the understanding of chronic pain mechanisms (how chronic pain develops and what brain differences are found in those affected by it), a major mechanism of interest is "central sensitisation" (CS) pain. This is a type of chronic pain related to changes in the way the brain processes pain and the senses. There is preliminary evidence to suggest people with central sensitisation may be partly predisposed to it because of their own sensory processing and anxiety character traits. Although there is a large overlap in the mechanisms behind central sensitisation pain across different pain syndromes, this study will focus on a chronic low back pain population (non-specific chronic low back pain; NSCLBP) with the following aims:
Aims
To investigate whether a) all patients with CS pain mechanisms are highly centrally sensitised (it is currently assumed they are in the CS literature but has not been measured) and b) there are some identifiable trait characteristics of patients with CS pain mechanisms in a group of people with NSCLBP, to identify possible factors, circumstances and contexts in which central pain mechanisms may develop.
This will be achieved in a group of patients with NSCLBP with predominantly CS pain as follows:
1) Identify the range of CS pain using a questionnaire
2) Determine whether there is a relationship between the four sub-types of trait anxiety, the four sub-types of trait sensory processing profiles and degrees of CS pain by analysing 4 questionnaires
3) Explore, through in-depth interviews, the lives of patients with NSCLBP with high and low levels of CS pain, with particular interest in the context of their own trait anxiety and trait sensory processing profiles.
Lay Results Summary
The study reported the following findings: In a group of people with chronic low back pain, 1) there is a high prevalence of trait sensory alterations; 2) high trait anxiety, extreme 'defensive high anxious' coping styles, and high trait sensory hyper- and hypo-sensitivity profile scores are predictive of high central sensitisation symptoms; and 3) with the emergence of themes of pre-morbid low confidence and control, sensory sensitivity, neurodiversity and trauma. This can be summarised as: people with chronic low back pain are naturally more prone to anxiety and they process sensations differently. Our work suggests they were may have been like this before their low back pain, possibly due to low confidence and control, sensory sensitivity, neurodiversity (e.g. attention deficit disorder) and trauma, and this may be why they develop symptoms of pain hypersensitivity.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NW/0378
Date of REC Opinion
27 May 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion