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Refining And Testing A Promising New Treatment For Chronic Pain.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$743,947.00
Summary
Chronic pain costs Australia about 35 billion dollars a year. Recent scientific discoveries show that treatment aimed at correcting problems in how the brain processes sensory input can reduce pain and disability. This project will clarify some key aspects of these problems and use that information to make final adjustments to an already very promising treatment. We will then test the treatment in a definitive and comprehensive clinical trial.
Why Do People Keep Hurting Their Back: A Longitudinal Study Of Biological, Psychological And Social Predictors
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$739,946.00
Summary
We aim to identify why people continue to suffer episodes of back pain. If we can identify factors that predict the course of back pain we can target treatments to the right people to reduce the burden of this common condition. We will follow people for a year after an acute episode. We will measure novel issues like control of trunk muscles, inflammatory response, and how the nervous system deals with pain. We will also investigate how these factors interact with social and psychological issues
Targeting Health System Change To Provide Better Care For People With Chronic Pain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,562,250.00
Summary
Chronic pain causes serious impacts to quality of life but the healthcare system is not well suited to managing the problem. This research addresses 3 barriers to evidence-based care. A new model that integrates clinical care with health coaching will be adapted for different settings. A training program to help clinicians incorporate research into their practice will be designed and evaluated. A pain education program aimed at empowering people in regional areas will be rolled-out and assessed.
Understanding Persistent Low Back Pain Where It Resides, In The Brain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$848,972.00
Summary
Low back pain is a leading cause of disability amongst Australians. A critical question is why some people get better after hurting their back while others do not. This project examines whether changes in the brain predict low back pain outcome. This information will rapidly advance our understanding of low back pain and has the potential to facilitate the development of novel therapies.
Chronic pain is a common and debilitating condition. One in five people in the Australian community have been found to experience chronic pain at any one time. Although there is no evidence of a consistent increase in rates of chronic pain, the rate of permanent disability has increased dramatically in recent decades. This has contributed to the growing cost of chronic pain. For example, back pain is the most common reason for filing workers' compensation claims and leads to loss of 101.8 millio ....Chronic pain is a common and debilitating condition. One in five people in the Australian community have been found to experience chronic pain at any one time. Although there is no evidence of a consistent increase in rates of chronic pain, the rate of permanent disability has increased dramatically in recent decades. This has contributed to the growing cost of chronic pain. For example, back pain is the most common reason for filing workers' compensation claims and leads to loss of 101.8 million workdays annually. The annual costs of medical care for back pain alone have been estimated at $AUD50 billion in the US and $10 billion in Australia. Not only is chronic pain a considerable economic burden, it is also a considerable personal burden to patients. Pain is one of the strongest predictors of poor quality of life and has consistently been found to be associated with high rates of depression. Although there is a large body of research that investigates what factors are associated with chronic pain, there is surprisingly little research that investigates the mechanisms that cause chronicity. Theories of chronic pain suggest that psychological characteristics increase the propensity for people to develop chronic pain. Specifically, theories argue that those people who tend to be fearful of pain will over-attend to painful sensations and avoid pain-provoking activities and as a result are at risk of developing chronic pain. This study will test those theories. If it is found that over-attending to pain does predispose patients to develop chronic pain, this will have important implications for preventing the development of chronic pain. These findings could help to devise early interventions to prevent chronicity and thereby reduce the economic burden to health services and the emotional burden to patients in terms of reduced quality of life.Read moreRead less
An Integrated, Multi-system Approach To Understanding Persistent Pain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$419,180.00
Summary
Musculoskeletal pain is a major health problem in Australia, with an economic burden second only to cancer. Despite the scale of the problem, there are few effective treatments. This project examines a range of biological mechanisms that could explain why some people get better over time while others experiencing pain do not. The findings of this research will contribute to the development of new treatments that can be targeted to each individual to improve pain and disability.
Development Of Potent And Selective Blockers Of Acid Sensing Ion Channels For The Treatment Of Pain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$578,704.00
Summary
More than three million Australians suffer from chronic pain, and there are few effective drugs available for treating this condition. A 2007 Access Economics Report estimated the economic burden of chronic pain in Australia at $34.3 billion. Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are a recently discovered family of proteins that play a key role in sensing pain. The goal of this project is to develop potent blockers of these channels that can be used to treat patients suffering from persistent pain.
About 1 in 10 Australians have persisting or chronic low back pain. Most are managed in primary care and the most frequently prescribed treatment is exercise. Chronic low back pain remains a major health problem because not all patients respond to each treatment so on average treatment effects are small. At present there are no guidelines to help clinicians select the best treatment for a patient. As a result a lot of time and money is wasted on treatments which ultimately fail to help the patie ....About 1 in 10 Australians have persisting or chronic low back pain. Most are managed in primary care and the most frequently prescribed treatment is exercise. Chronic low back pain remains a major health problem because not all patients respond to each treatment so on average treatment effects are small. At present there are no guidelines to help clinicians select the best treatment for a patient. As a result a lot of time and money is wasted on treatments which ultimately fail to help the patient. We have begun a research program to solve this primary health care problem. We have focussed on exercise because the treatment is widely available in primary care and of modest cost. The program includes basic research to understand the mechanism of action of exercise and clinical trials testing the effectiveness of different types of exercise. The proposed study falls into the latter category, and is a direct comparison of the two most promising types of exercise used in Australia. The study will also identify clinical features that modify treatment effects, a finding that will allow clinicians to identify which type of exercise is more likely to be effective for an individual patient. This study offers a potential solution to a major health problem with enormous economic and social costs.Read moreRead less
Understanding The Brain In The Transition From Acute To Chronic Low Back Pain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$107,049.00
Summary
A critical question in treating low back pain (LBP) is why some people get better after hurting their back while others do not. Physiological mechanisms, such as brain plasticity and central sensitisation, are believed to underpin the transition to persistent pain. This is the first study to evaluate these mechanisms longitudinally and their relationship with LBP outcomes. The result of this research will provide better understanding of pain mechanisms of LBP and assist to develop novel therapy.