The impact of pain-related fear on neural pathways of pain modulation in chronic low back pain.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Pain-related fear plays a substantial role in chronic low back pain (LBP) by amplifying the experienced disability. Related dysfunctional emotions and cognitions may also affect sensory aspects of pain through a modulatory pathway in which the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and the amygdala play key roles.

Objectives

We therefore hypothesized a differential amygdala-PAG functional connectivity (FC) in patients with chronic LBP that is modulated by the degree of pain-related fear.

Methods

We used data of a previously reported fMRI study where 20 chronic LBP patients (7 females, mean age = 39.35) and 20 healthy controls (12 females, mean age = 32.10) were asked to observe video clips showing potentially harmful and neutral activities for the back. Pain-related f

SUBMITTER: Meier ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5741307 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature