Chronic pain relief after receiving affective touch: A single case report

Abstract

Affective touch is gentle slow stroking of the skin, which can reduce experimentally induced pain. Our participant, suffering from Parkinson's Disease and chronic pain, received 1 week of non‐affective touch and 1 week of affective touch as part of a larger study. Interestingly, after 2 days of receiving affective touch, the participant started to feel less pain. After 7 days, the burning painful sensations fully disappeared. This suggest that affective touch may reduce chronic pain in clinical populations.

The skin‐brain connection and pleasant touch as supportive care for psychocutaneous disorders

“… 49 Furthermore, the neural basis of affective touch and pain has been reviewed and CT‐optimal touch appears to be beneficial in reducing acute pain 50 , 51 , 52 and chronic pain. 53 Gentle stroking has been shown to decrease noxious‐evoked brain activity in human infants, which is similar to that observed when adults experience pain. 50 A reduction in pain, as assessed on a visual analog scale, was observed when CT‐optimal touch was applied and this was independent of pain stimulus intensity.…”

“…52 Furthermore, chronic generalised pain in a patient with Parkinson's disease was reduced after 7 days of affective touch applied by the partner even though the patient perceived the touch as slightly unpleasant. 53 Strong CT-related pain reduction was associated with low anxiety and high calmness scores obtained by a state anxiety questionnaire. 54 The skin has a role of communication between individuals, thereby promoting affective interpersonal touch, and affiliative behaviour.…”

“…Affective touch reduces activation of areas related to pain processing, namely the insula and anterior cingulate cortex, and reduces electrically‐induced itch, through activation of regions involved in pleasure and reward 49 . Furthermore, the neural basis of affective touch and pain has been reviewed and CT‐optimal touch appears to be beneficial in reducing acute pain 50–52 and chronic pain 53 . Gentle stroking has been shown to decrease noxious‐evoked brain activity in human infants, which is similar to that observed when adults experience pain 50 .…”

“…Similarly, affective touch between romantic couples has an inhibitory effect on pain 52 . Furthermore, chronic generalised pain in a patient with Parkinson's disease was reduced after 7 days of affective touch applied by the partner even though the patient perceived the touch as slightly unpleasant 53 . Strong CT‐related pain reduction was associated with low anxiety and high calmness scores obtained by a state anxiety questionnaire 54 …”

Spatial factors influencing the pain-ameliorating effect of CT-optimal touch: a comparative study for modulating temporal summation of second pain

“…There are only two studies where touch application and nociceptive stimulation were spatially distinct 8 , 13 . In addition, there are two studies showing that CT-optimal touch effectively reduces chronic pain experience when applied on the same body part 4 , 7 . Another study into CT-optimal touch and chronic pain experience did not report the exact body part affected by the chronic pain condition and it is therefore unclear whether touch application was, for instance, contralateral or ipsilateral to the pain location 3 .…”