Fear-avoidance model of chronic pain the next generation

Objective: The fear-avoidance (FA) model of chronic pain describes how individuals experiencing acute pain may become trapped into a vicious circle of chronic disability and suffering. We propose to extend the FA model by adopting a motivational perspective on chronic pain and disability. Methods: A narrative review. Results: There is ample evidence to support the validity of the FA model as originally formulated. There are, however, some key challenges that call for a next generation of the FA model. First, the FA model has its roots in psychopathology, and investigators will have to find a way to account for findings that do not easily fit within such framework. Second, the FA model needs to address the dynamics and complexities of disability and functional recovery. Third, the FA model should incorporate the idea that pain-related fear and avoidance occurs in a context of multiple and often competing personal goals. Discussion: To address these 3 key challenges, we argue that the next generation of the FA model needs to more explicitly adopt a motivational perspective, one that is built around the organizing powers of goals and self-regulatory processes. Using this framework, the FA model is recast as capturing the persistent but futile attempts to solve pain-related problems to protect and restore life goals

A break from pain! Interruption management in the context of pain

Activity interruptions, namely temporary suspensions of an ongoing task with the intention to resume it later, are common in pain. First, pain is a threat signal that urges us to interrupt ongoing activities in order to manage the pain and its cause. Second, activity interruptions are used in chronic pain management. However, activity interruptions by pain may carry costs for activity performance. These costs have recently started to be systematically investigated. We review the evidence on the consequences of activity interruptions by pain for the performance of the interrupted activity. Further, inspired by literature on interruptions from other research fields, we suggest ways to improve interruption management in the field of pain, and provide a future research agenda

Taking a break in response to pain : an experimental investigation of the effects of interruptions by pain on subsequent activity resumption

Abstract Background and aims Interrupting ongoing activities with the intention to resume them again later is a natural response to pain. However, such interruptions might have negative consequences for the subsequent resumption and performance of the interrupted activity. Activity interruptions by pain may be more impairing than interruptions by non-painful stimuli, and also be subjectively experienced as such. These effects might be more pronounced in people high in pain catastrophizing. These hypotheses were investigated in two experiments. Methods In Experiment 1, healthy volunteers (n = 24) performed an ongoing task requiring a sequence of joystick movements. Occasionally, they received either a painful electrocutaneous or a non-painful vibrotactile stimulus, followed by suspension of the ongoing task and temporary engagement in a different task (interruption task). After performing the interruption task for 30 s, participants resumed the ongoing task. As the ongoing task of Experiment 1 was rather simple, Experiment 2 (n = 30) included a modified, somewhat more complex version of the task, in order to examine the effects of activity interruptions by pain. Results Participants made more errors and were slower to initiate movements (Experiment 1 &amp; 2) and to complete movements (Experiment 2) when they resumed the ongoing task after an interruption, indicating that interruptions impaired subsequent performance. However, these impairments were not larger when the interruption was prompted by painful than by non-painful stimulation. Pain catastrophizing did not influence the results. Conclusions Results indicate that activity interruptions by pain have negative consequences for the performance of an activity upon its resumption, but not more so than interruptions by non-painful stimuli. Potential explanations and avenues for future research are discussed. Implications Interrupting ongoing activities is a common response to pain. In two experiments using a novel paradigm we showed that activity interruptions by pain impair subsequent activity resumption and performance. However, this effect seems to not be specific to pain. </jats:sec

Pain-avoidance versus reward-seeking: an experimental investigation

According to fear-avoidance models, a catastrophic interpretation of a painful experience may give rise to pain-related fear and avoidance, leading to the development and maintenance of chronic pain problems in the long term. However, little is known about how exactly motivation and goal prioritization play a role in the development of pain-related fear. This study investigates these processes in healthy volunteers using an experimental context with multiple, competing goals. In a differential human fear-conditioning paradigm, 57 participants performed joystick movements. In the control condition, one movement (conditioned stimulus; CS+) was followed by a painful electrocutaneous unconditioned stimulus (pain-US) in 50% of the trials, whereas another movement (nonreinforced conditioned stimulus; CS-) was not. In the experimental condition, a reward in the form of lottery tickets (reward-US) accompanied the presentation of the pain-US. Participants were classified into 3 groups, as a function of the goal, they reported to be the most important: (1) pain-avoidance, (2) reward-seeking, and (3) both goals being equally important. Results indicated that neither the reward co-occurring with pain nor the prioritized goal modulated pain-related fear. However, during subsequent choice trials, participants selected the painful movement more often when the reward was presented compared with the context in which the reward was absent. The latter effect was dependent on goal prioritization, with more frequent selections in the reward-seeking group, and the least selections in the pain-avoidance group. Taken together, these results underscore the importance of competing goals and goal prioritization in the attenuation of avoidance behavior

Pain by mistake:investigating a link between error-related negativity and pain avoidance behavior

ABSTRACT: Pain can be considered as a signal of "bodily error": Errors put organisms at danger and activate behavioral defensive systems. If the error is of physical nature, pain is the warning signal that motivates protective action such as avoidance behavior to safeguard our body's integrity. Interestingly, an important component of neural error processing, the error-related negativity (ERN), has been found to be related to avoidance in anxiety disorders. The present study is the first to extend these findings to pain and investigate the relationship between ERN and pain-related avoidance behavior. It was hypothesized that individuals with larger ERN amplitudes would show more pain-related avoidance behavior and would be more persistent in their avoidance despite changes in the environment. Fifty-three healthy individuals performed the Eriksen Flanker task during which their brain activity upon correct and erroneous motor responses was recorded by means of high-density electroencephalography. Avoidance behavior was assessed with an arm-reaching task using the HapticMaster robot arm. Results showed that, in contrast to our hypothesis, avoidance was not related to ERN amplitudes. Surprisingly, persons with elevated ERN amplitudes showed low levels of avoidance specifically during early acquisition trials. In contrast to earlier findings in anxiety disorders, individuals with elevated ERN amplitudes did not engage in more pain-related avoidance behavior. In fact, the opposite pattern was found at the start of acquisition: individuals with higher compared to lower ERN amplitudes were slower in learning to avoid pain. Replications and future studies on the relationship between ERN and avoidance behavior are needed