Scientists and medical researchers have been experimenting with technologies and various types of therapies to treat nerve pain while powerful medications have also been around for some time.
However, a new method uses technology to train people to cure their pains by altering their brain waves with promising results for a drug-free treatment.
Named PainWaive, the technology has been developed by UNSW Sydney researchers.
In the trials with an interactive game that trains people to alter their brain waves, the combination of technology and neuroscience advancement has initially shown encouraging results toward drug-free treatment of nerve pains.
The PainWaive technology, developed by UNSW Sydney researchers, teaches users how to regulate abnormal brain activity linked to chronic nerve pain, offering a potential in-home, non-invasive alternative to opioids.
A study of recent trials conducted by Professor Sylvia Gustin and Dr Negin Hesam-Shariati from UNSW Sydney’s NeuroRecovery Research Hub, has been published in the Journal of Pain.
Science Daily said in a report that the study compared hundreds of measures across participants’ pain and related issues like pain interference before, during and after four weeks of interactive game play.
The brain activity was tracked via EEG (electroencephalogram) headsets, with the app responding in real time to shifts in brainwave patterns, it said.
The showed that three out of the four participants showed significant reductions in pain.
More significantly, the report notes, the pain relief achieved by the three was comparable to or greater than that offered by opioids.
“Restrictions in the study’s size, design and duration limit our ability to generalize the findings or rule out placebo effects,” Dr Hesam-Shariati says.
“But the results we’ve seen are exciting and give us confidence to move to the next stage and our larger trial.”
The PainWaive project builds on UNSW Professor Sylvia Gustin’s seminal research into changes in the brain’s thalamus — a central relay hub in the brain — associated with nerve (neuropathic) pain.
“The brainwaves of people with neuropathic pain show a distinct pattern: more slow theta waves, fewer alpha waves, and more fast, high beta waves,” Prof. Gustin said, according to Science Daily.
“We believe these changes interfere with how the thalamus talks to other parts of the brain, especially the sensory motor cortex, which registers pain.”
An interdisciplinary team at UNSW Science and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), led by Prof. Gustin and Dr Hesam-Shariati led to the technology PainWaive.
In its first trial four participants received a kit with a headset and a tablet preloaded with the game app, which includes directions for its use.
They were also given tips for different mental strategies, like relaxing or focusing on happy memories, to help bring their brain activity into a more “normal” state, the daily reported.
“After just a couple of Zoom sessions, participants were able to run the treatment entirely on their own,” says Dr Hesam-Shariati.
“Participants felt empowered to manage their pain in their own environment. That’s a huge part of what makes this special.”
As per the report, the researchers are now asking participants to register their interest in two upcoming trials of neuromodulation technology. They include the Spinal Pain Trial, that will investigate its potential to reduce chronic spinal pain. The other StoPain Trial will iuse the method in treating chronic neuropathic pain in people with a spinal cord injury.
