Supraspinal Neural Adaptations in the Transition from Acute Injury to Chronic Pain and Disability

Funded Activity Summary

Although there have been significant clinical advances in the management of injury and the control of acute pain following tauma, many people still develop disabling conditions of chronic pain. Chronic pain and disability occurs even though the acute signs of trauma have subsided and injuries have healed. People with chronic pain conditions not only experience ongoing changes in sensation (ie., most commonly lowered thresholds for pain, touch evoked pain and spontaneous pain), they also endure a number of disabilities for example disrupted family and social relations, disturbed sleep, loss of appetite, weight changes, loss of sex drive, changes in menstrual cycle, the inability to cope with stressors, and often moderate to severe anxiety and depression. The proposed research aims to (i) identify changes in brain circuits which are responsible for producing these patterns of pain and disability following injury and (ii) attempts to selectively reverse some of these disabilities by reversing the brain changes. The results of this study will offer for the first time a rational basis for improving the outcomes of injury and pain management in the acute phase of trauma, by identifying and reversing the critical changes which predict the advent of the state state of chronic pain and disability.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2007

End Date: 01-01-2009

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $429,360.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Central Nervous System

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

behaviour | chronic disorders | disability | emotional coping | injury | neuroanatomy | post-opertive adverse effects

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