Background & Aims
Research suggests that pain negatively affects body image, however, body awareness may also interact with pain. This project aimed to verify whether noxious stimulus leads to body image alteration, and secondary, to evaluate, if the body image change is associated with altered pain sensitivity. It is the first experimental trial aiming to induce body image changes in an experimental setting using noxious stimulation. It is hypothesized that acute pain itself, will induce changes in the image of the body and will mimic the alterations observed in clinical chronic pain populations.
Methods
This experiment is designed as a between – and within – subjects’ comparison. 90 healthy subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: lower back pain induced by a (real) hypertonic saline injection (n=30), pain induced by a fake injection (without piercing the skin) (n=30), and a control group with no injection (n=30). The real and the fake injections were administered by a physician. Participants assessed their body image and pain sensitivity three times – just before the experimental manipulation (pain induction), during acute pain and after the pain had worn off.
Results
The mean pain intensity evoked by hypertonic saline injection after 5 minutes was 48/100; 38/100 after 20 minutes and 29/100 after 15 minutes. Body image changed significantly in the injection group (p<0.001). Pain sensitivity assessed via electrical pain threshold did not differ significantly between groups (p=0.93). Mean experienced pain intensity was positively correlated with body image distortion in the injection condition (r=0.39, p<0.001), as well as with the pain threshold (r=-0.44, p=0.013). Pain threshold and body image were not significantly correlated (r=-.012, p=0.5).
Conclusions
The perceptual dimension of body image, assessed via FreBAQ is distorted during acute pain. It may be that the intensity of the pain experience is sufficient to induce body image distortions without chronification.
References
Longo, M. R. (2022). Distortion of mental body representations. Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Sündermann, O., Flink, I., & Linton, S. J. (2020). My body is not working right: A cognitive behavioral model of body image and chronic pain. Pain
Presenting Author
Aleksandra Budzisz
Poster Authors
Topics
- Specific Pain Conditions/Pain in Specific Populations: Acute Pain and Nociceptive Pain