Laboratory Personnel Gender and Cold Pressor Apparatus Affect Subjective Pain Reports

Vigil, Jacob M.; Rowell, Lauren N.; Alcock, Joe; Maestes, Randy

doi:10.1155/2014/213950

Cited by 37 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(76 reference statements)

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“…When these participants were excluded from the analysis, the significance improved to P = 0.055 ( F (1,33) = 3.9, cathodal mean 68.6 seconds, anodal mean 51.1 seconds). Although published studies using such psychological tasks typically use parametric statistics such as ANOVA that assume dataset normality , for rigor we performed the Shapiro–Wilk normality test, which suggested rejecting the null hypothesis that our data were normally distributed. We therefore reanalyzed the main effect of polarity on mean cold pressor tolerance for all participants with the nonparametric, paired, two‐tailed, exact Wilcoxon signed‐rank test, and obtained comparable results ( W S = 416, P = 0.099).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Statistical analysis included mixed ANOVA and t ‐tests, common for the psychological tasks used , as well as Shapiro‐Wilk tests of dataset normality. These analyses were performed with R 3.0.0 (http://www.r-project.org/) using the open‐source RKWard 0.6.1 graphical user interface and the rk.anova 0.01‐17 plug‐in (http://rkward.sourceforge.net).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Pain Distress Tolerance: A Preliminary Study

Mariano¹,

Wout-Frank²,

Jacobson³

et al. 2015

Pain Med

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Objective Pain remains a critical medical challenge. Current treatments target nociception without addressing affective symptoms. Medically intractable pain is sometimes treated with cingulotomy or deep brain stimulation to increase tolerance of pain-related distress. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may noninvasively modulate cortical areas related to sensation and pain representations. The present study aimed to test the hypothesis that cathodal (“inhibitory”) stimulation targeting left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) would increase tolerance to distress from acute painful stimuli versus anodal stimulation. Methods Forty healthy volunteers received both anodal and cathodal stimulation. During stimulation, we measured pain distress tolerance with three tasks: pressure algometer, cold pressor, and breath holding. We measured pain intensity with a visual-analog scale before and after each task. Results Mixed ANOVA revealed that mean cold pressor tolerance tended to be higher with cathodal versus anodal stimulation (p = 0.055) for participants self-completing the task. Pressure algometer (p = 0.81) and breath holding tolerance (p = 0.19) did not significantly differ. The pressure algometer exhibited a statistically significant order effect irrespective of stimulation polarity (all p < 0.008). Pain intensity ratings increased acutely after cold pressor and pressure algometer tasks (both p < 0.01), but not after breath holding (p = 0.099). Cold pressor pain ratings tended to rise less after cathodal versus anodal tDCS (p = 0.072). Conclusions Although our primary results were nonsignificant, there is a preliminary suggestion that cathodal tDCS targeting left dACC may increase pain distress tolerance to cold pressor. Pressure algometer results are consistent with task-related sensitization. Future studies are needed to refine this novel approach for pain neuromodulation.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Pain Distress Tolerance: A Preliminary Study

Mariano¹,

Wout-Frank²,

Jacobson³

et al. 2015

Pain Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For CP, endurance was calculated as the difference between tolerance and threshold; it therefore was not an independent variable. Statistical analysis comprised mixed ANOVA and t -tests, common for these types of psychological tasks (41,44–50), as well as Shapiro-Wilk tests of dataset normality. Stimulation polarity was the within-participants factor; stimulation order (i.e.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Targeting Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Modulates Task-Induced Acute Pain in Healthy Volunteers

et al. 2015

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Objective Current chronic pain treatments target nociception rather than affective “suffering” and its associated functional and psychiatric comorbidities. Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been implicated in affective, cognitive, and attentional aspects of pain and is a primary target of neuromodulation for affective disorders. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can noninvasively modulate cortical activity. The present study tests if anodal tDCS targeting left DLPFC will increase tolerability of acute painful stimuli versus cathodal tDCS. Methods Forty tDCS-naive healthy volunteers received anodal and cathodal stimulation targeting left DLPFC in two randomized and counterbalanced sessions. During stimulation, each participant performed cold pressor (CP) and breath holding (BH) tasks. We measured pain intensity with the Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale (DVPRS) before and after each task. Results Mixed ANOVA revealed no main effect of stimulation polarity for mean CP threshold, tolerance, or endurance, or mean BH time (all p > 0.27). However, DVPRS rise associated with CP was significantly smaller with anodal versus cathodal tDCS (p = 0.024). We further observed a significant tDCS polarity × stimulation order interaction (p = 0.042) on CP threshold suggesting task sensitization. Conclusions Although our results do not suggest that polarity of tDCS targeting left DLPFC differentially modulates tolerability of CP- and BH-related pain distress in healthy volunteers, there was a significant effect on DVPRS pain ratings. This contrasts with our previous findings that tDCS targeting left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex showed a trend towards higher mean CP tolerance with cathodal versus anodal stimulation. The present results may suggest tDCS-related effects on nociception or DLPFC-mediated attention, or preferential modulation of the affective valence of pain as captured by DVPRS. Sham-controlled clinical studies are needed.

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“…Interpersonal interactions between family members are important, in that the gender of both patient and spouse impacts on pain [42,64]. There is also evidence that experimental and clinical pain reports are differentially affected by the presence of a same-or opposite-gender observer [32,70,71]. Physician-patient interactions require good interpersonal skills to elicit and provide core information, and there are gender differences in the nonverbal behaviours exhibited during such transactions [26].…”

Section: Gender Differences In the Nonverbal Communication Of Painmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender differences in the nonverbal communication of pain: A new direction for sex, gender, and pain research?

Keogh

2014

Pain

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Laboratory Personnel Gender and Cold Pressor Apparatus Affect Subjective Pain Reports

Abstract: More standardized protocols for measuring pain across varying research and clinical settings should be developed.

Cited by 37 publications

References 46 publications

Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Pain Distress Tolerance: A Preliminary Study

Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Pain Distress Tolerance: A Preliminary Study

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Targeting Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Modulates Task-Induced Acute Pain in Healthy Volunteers

Gender differences in the nonverbal communication of pain: A new direction for sex, gender, and pain research?

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