Sensory approaches and chronic pain

The experience of pain is fundamentally sensory in nature. While pain serves an adaptive function in the short term, it can also be experienced as noxious if it persists. Intractable persistent pain is extremely distressing and is often linked with other mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, trauma, and even suicide. Like these other conditions, pain (both acute and persistent) is associated with more extreme and atypical sensory patterns, with evidence of this in both healthy and persistent pain samples across various age groups. An understanding of the sensory system and related sensory modulation approaches offers a novel and trauma-informed way to support recovery from pain and pain-related conditions.