ArticleBrain communications2021
Chronic pain as a brain imbalance between pain input and pain suppression.
Article in Brain communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed.
- Can EEG-Neurofeedback Training Enhance Effective Connectivity in People With Chronic Secondary Musculoskeletal Pain? A Secondary Analysis of a Feasibility Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.Brain and behavior · 2025Trial
- The Impact of Alpha-Neurofeedback Training on Gastric Slow Wave Activity and Heart Rate Variability in Humans.Neurogastroenterology and motility · 2025Trial
- Closed-Loop Infraslow Brain-Computer Interface can Modulate Cortical Activity and Connectivity in Individuals With Chronic Painful Knee Osteoarthritis: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.Clinical EEG and neuroscience · 2025Trial
- A safety and feasibility randomized placebo controlled trial exploring electroencephalographic effective connectivity neurofeedback treatment for fibromyalgia.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Exploring electroencephalographic infraslow neurofeedback treatment for chronic low back pain: a double-blinded safety and feasibility randomized placebo-controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Electroencephalography research in neuropathic pain (Review).Molecular medicine reports · 2026Review
- Chronic pain and oscillatory neuroplasticity: Review on impaired compensatory network responses in resting-state electroencephalography.Brain network disorders · 2026Article
- Altered cortical alpha modulations and connectivity in complex regional pain syndrome.The journal of pain · 2026Article
- Recent progress in chronic pain-related negative emotions and cognitive dysfunction: insights into the mechanisms underlying neural circuitry.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Review
- Neurofeedback Training for Managing Neuropathic Pain-Like Features in Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: Protocol for an Open-Label Pilot Feasibility Clinical Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Spinal Cord Injury 2.0: Bridging the Gap Between Neurobiology, Technology, and Hope in the Era of Precision Medicine.Stem cell reviews and reports · 2025Review
- Disruptions in cortical circuit connectivity distinguish widespread hyperalgesia from localized pain.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Distinct resting state neural activity in chronic pain patients who respond to transcranial electric stimulation for pain relief.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- A home-based EEG neurofeedback treatment for chronic neuropathic pain-a pilot study.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- EEG connectivity features associated with fibromyalgia revealed by machine learning.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Sleep misperception in women with myofascial temporomandibular disorder.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2025Article
- Astrocyte Activation in the ACC Contributes to Comorbid Anxiety in Chronic Inflammatory Pain and Involves in The Excitation-Inhibition Imbalance.Molecular neurobiology · 2024Article
- The Locus Coeruleus in Chronic Pain.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound to the Human Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Attenuates Acute Pain Perception and Autonomic Responses.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Chronic pain as an emergent property of a complex system and the potential roles of psychedelic therapies.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chronic pain is pain that persists beyond the expected period of healing. The subjective experience of chronic pain results from pathological brain network interactions, rather than from persisting physiological sensory input of nociceptors. We hypothesize that pain is an imbalance between pain evoking dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and somatosensory cortex and pain suppression (i.e. pregenual anterior cingulate cortex). This imbalance can be measured objectively by current density ratios between pain input and pain inhibition. A balance between areas involved in pain input and pain suppression requires communication, which can be objectively identified by connectivity measures, both functional and effective connectivity. In patients with chronic neuropathic pain, electroencephalography is performed with source localization demonstrating that pain is reflected by an abnormal ratio between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, somatosensory cortex and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex. Functional connectivity demonstrates decreased communication between these areas, and effective connectivity puts the culprit at the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, suggesting that the problem is related to abnormal behavioral relevance attached to the pain. In conclusion, chronic pain can be considered as an imbalance between pain input and pain suppression.
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