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Key to Taming Chronic Pain For some, the pain is so great that
they cannot even bear to have clothes touch their skin. For
others, it means that every step is a deliberate and agonising
choice. Whether the pain is caused by arthritic joints, an
injury to a nerve or a disease like fibromyalgia, research now
suggests there are new solutions for those who suffer from
chronic pain. It has long been known that the central nervous
system “remembers” painful experiences, that they leave a memory
trace of pain. And when there is new sensory input, the pain
memory trace in the brain magnifies the feeling so that even a
gentle touch can be excruciating. “Perhaps the best example of a
pain memory trace is found with phantom limb pain,” suggests
Coderre. “Patients may have a limb amputated because of
gangrene, and because the limb was painful before it was
amputated, even though the limb is gone, the patients continue
to feel they are suffering from pain in th