Pain ‘all in the head’

A ‘MIND over body’ experiment has shown the brain can suppress pain. Scientists tested a “biofeedback” technique, which allowed volunteers to see the activity of a pain-limiting region in their brain.

In a short while, they were able to exert mental control over the patterns and reduce feelings of pain.

Similar biofeedback methods have been used to treat epilepsy and behaviour problems, but it has never before been used to prevent pain in humans.

Scientists at California’s Stanford University studied eight volunteers who were given brain scans while being subjected to heat on the palms of their hands.

The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner focused on a pain- control region of the brain called the rostral anterior cingulate. Its activity was represented on a screen either as a flame that varied in size or a scrolling bar graph.

During the scans, the volunteers were asked to increase or decrease the signal from the scanner and rate their pain sensations.

“It took just three 13-minute sessions for the volunteers to learn to vary the brain activity level, and thus to develop some control over their pain sensations,” New Scientist magazine reported.

The effect seemed to last beyond the sessions, but it is not yet clear for how long.

Study leaders Fumiko Maeda and Christopher de Charms presented the results to the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in San Francisco last week.

They hope it may train patients not only to control pain but to lessen the effects of dementia or depression.

“It might even help boost normal brain function,” said New Scientist.