“Ouch!”: Taking a break from the gardening you pop the kettle on and notice a big scratch down your arm. Must have been the thorns. But why didn’t it hurt at the time? Aren’t there nerves that fire as soon as you hurt yourself? Where was the pain in between the thorn and the cup […]
“The Puzzle of pain”- 22nd June 2025 Read More »
Recently, we hosted an industrially-focused event at the University of Reading, providing an overview of our multi-faceted pain research programme to a number of delegates across academia, clinical care and research, and with a large presence of industrial partners. Our very own Tatum Askey was kind enough to provide her insights, and write a summary
Overview of Pain Research Reading 2024 Read More »
I’m not sure which is the optimal way forward. Either, I can tolerate that my freetime dwindles more and more each year and just hope readers are sympathetic to this and don’t write me off as lazy/uninterested. Alternatively, I can delete the “date submitted” information under each of my posts, and then no-one needs to
Adapting to a worklife of academia Read More »
“Take your mind off your pain” is a common phrase you will hear from compassionate family members, disparaging strangers and even from the doctor within the clinic. You’ll see this approach in action when you aggressively hum the theme to Eastenders after stubbing your toe, or when you distract yourself from your back pain by
Is pain “in the body or the mind”? Read More »
This will be a much shorter post than normal, mainly as the topic is directed to my attendance at the annual meeting of RCOG, to present my hysteroscopy manuscript. The other reason is that, outside of inane and specific challenges I’m facing with analysis, continued lockdown has really put a cramp on our research (there’s
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Read More »
It is unlikely to be controversial for me to suggest that pain is not merely a product of sensory stimulation (please excuse that rather clunky double-negative). I have previously mentioned the annals of Henry Beecher, wherein soldiers during World War II were observed to decline analgesia despite serious battle wounds or pending medical interventions1. More
“Pain-free Hysteroscopy” Read More »
To start off, for any fellow nerds that may read this. I’m sorry to disappoint, this is not a comprehensive review article on the psychological concept of intolerance of uncertainty (let’s get the acronym out of the way, IoU). However, happily, it is definitely related. From what I understand, IoU represents a tendency to react
Tolerance of Uncertainty Read More »
It seems for better or worse, out of wisdom or foolishness, based on scientific evidence or financial desperation- lockdown is coming to an end. The spectre of a “second wave” was initially something to avoid at all costs, but is now seen as an inevitability. My personal view (and it’s my blog, so why the
Life After Lockdown? Read More »
It’s the 30th March, and I suspect everyone has had quite enough about corona virus haven’t they? For some, like my colleagues in the NHS, my girlfriend in the supermarkets or my friend driving HGVs across the country, the criticisms are very pointed and concerning. They are very much on the front line of this
I recently attended a one-day conference in Holborn at the Royal College of Anaesthetists, hosted jointly by the British Pain Foundation and Arthritis UK, which I thought I’d give a brief synopsis of. As these events are hosted by charities with very limited budgets, the places available are equally limited. The upside of this is