The context in which physical therapy interventions are offered has the potential to dramatically improve therapeutic effects. Enhanced TA combined with active IFC appears to lead to clinically meaningful improvements in outcomes when treating patients with CLBP.

These findings point to a specific cognitive mechanism, the maintenance of the memory trace, that is affected by chronic pain during task performance. Cognitive function was not improved by short-term local analgesia.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Canadian MPTFs are unable to meet clinical demands of patients suffering from chronic pain, both in terms of regional accessibility and reasonable wait time for patients' first appointment.

Accumulating evidence points to significant cognitive disruption in individuals with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS). This study was carried out in order to examine specific cognitive mechanisms involved in this disruption. Standardized experimental paradigms were used to examine attentional function and working memory capacity in 30 women with FMS and 30 matched controls. Cognitive function was examined using performance on these tests and between group results were analysed in the context of important psychological and behavioural measures. Performance of standardized everyday attentional tasks was impaired in the FMS group compared to controls. Working memory was also found to be impaired in this group. Stimulus interference was found to be significantly worse in the FMS group as the demands of the tasks increased. These effects were found to exist independent of the measures of mood and sleep disruption. However, when pain levels were accounted for statistically, no differences existed between groups on cognitive measures. These findings point to disrupted working memory as a specific mechanism that is disrupted in this population. The results of this study suggest that pain in FMS may play an important role in cognitive disruption. It is likely that many factors, including disrupted cognition, play a role in the reduced quality of life reported by individuals with FMS.

No abstract

There are very few pediatric MPTFs in Canada. These facilities exist in five of ten provinces, each within large urban centres. Limited accessibility leads to variable and prolonged wait times for pediatric patients suffering from chronic pain.

This review is unique as it attempts to cast a broader net over the common neurobiological correlates that exist across these 3 conditions. It highlights the complexity of the interrelationships between these disorders and the importance of increasing our understanding of neurobiological factors associated with them.