Chronic Pain and Conditioned Pain Modulation After on Line-behavioral Approach

Chronic pain is a disabling condition associated with progressive changes and decline in psychological wellbeing. The burden of this condition is significant and also the epidemiological impact. According with a modern conceptualization, pain has to be considered a biopsychosocial disorder where biological, affective, social and psychological aspects are strictly connected. Although this new conceptualization, the implementation of an integral systems approach of psychological tenets into treatments for chronic pain are limited. Concerning treatment of chronic pain condition, the literature of the last years has demonstrated how clinical benefit can be improved when traditional therapies are combined with behavioral approaches in particular mindfulness, that help patients to become more conscious about their symptoms and able to manage pain without medication.

Systemic quantitative-somatosensory testing of Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM) can be considered a measure of endogenous modulation of pain and it has been used in different clinical experiences to evaluate the effectiveness of different pain treatments even if non pharmacological approaches Aim of this study: A group of patients suffering from Chronic Migraine and Chronic Neuropathic Pain will be studied and followed with a specific mindfulness protocol, added to traditional pharmacological therapy, performed on-line for 8 weeks. In order to determine if the behavioral approach can improve their clinical condition patients will be followed for 12 months after treatments with regular visits every 3 months.

Also, in order to assess the integrity and improvement of the endogenous pain inhibitory control a conditioned pain modulation paradigm will be performed at baseline and at 3, 6, 12 months. Patients will perform a baseline evaluation of thermal pain and mechanical pain tresholds using the quantitative sensory methods, including the determination of heat-generated temporal summation. Then, at baseline and at 3, 6, 12 months follow up, the CPM paradigm will be performed using two heat painful stimuli, a tonic heat stimulus as conditioning stimulus and a phasic heat stimulus as test stimuli.

Patients will be treated by traditional pharmacological therapies added to behavioral approach (mindfulness on line by using a specific platform (STARLEAF)) (TAU/MIND) Eight weekly one-hour video-sessions of mindfulness practice will be scheduled for patients; instructions to manage pain and to encourage the use of strategies for pain management will be given.

Moreover, instructions for behavioral approach and mindfulness, to practice every day will be given: daily standardized mindfulness sessions of 12 minutes, by smartphone, recorded by the expert who generally manages their sessions at the hospital will be scheduled for patients Neuropsychological assessment will be provided at baseline and at every follow up Clinical, neurophysiological and neuropsychological results will be compared to those obtained from another group of patients treated by traditional pharmacological treatment (TAU) This preliminary study will be conducted on 35 patients with diagnosis of CM and Chronic Neuropathic Pain performed at our center.

Specific questionnaires for cognitive assessment and disability, catastrophizing attitude, anxiety, depression, acceptance, pain coping will be performed at baseline and repeated at every follow up ( PCS; GSE; HADS; CPAQ; AAQ; MAAS). The pain diary will be checked too with scheduled NSR evaluation. The questionnaires will be repeated at every follow up and the pain diary will be evaluated.

Results will be collected at baseline up to 12 months after treatment for both groups.