Some cases of low back pain may be due to malfunctioning pain pathways in the brain

A new study reported at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, New Orleans (25. - 29.10.2002) reports that MRI scans of back pain suffereres (with no known physical origin) show amplified pain signals (for stimulation on their thumb) in specific brain areas.

These results parrallel the previous findings of the same researchers on fibromyalgia.

Report by Reuters Helath 16 November 2002

The previous study on fibromyalgia (with similar findings about their augmented pain sensitivity) is: Gracely, Petzke, Wolf, Clauw 2002 Functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence of augmented pain processing in fibromyalgia. ARTHRITIS & RHEUMATISM 46(5):1333-1343

Robert Schleip

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