Research can help find the optimal pathway to limit the negative impacts of pain.
Research & Researchers
Pain is often a complex problem in that everyone experiences it differently. In western medicine, we have very little pragmatic, clinical research on options for managing it effectively, nonpharmacological or otherwise. Additionally, the opioid epidemic has shown that pharmacological approaches may have only minimal benefit for the management of pain and the risk of substantial harms.
Pragmatic Clinical Trials
Research in Real-World Settings
Work Groups
Data Expertise & Best Practices
Guidance for Study Design and Proposals
Guidance for Study Design & Proposals A selection of publications, tools, and recommendations for developing strong proposals and adaptive studies Publications Presentations More Information Northwestern University’s Dissemination and Implementation Program Northwestern’s Center for Community Health (CCH) and the Center for Prevention Implementation Methodology formed the Dissemination and Implementation Program to provide education, training and consultation to
The Role of Health Informatics in Pain Management
Health informatics brings information to the fingertips of clinician-researchers and practicing clinicians to help with evidence-based care recommendations and improve patient outcomes.
From Our Work Groups
Covariate Adjustment in Pragmatic Randomized Clinical Trials in Pain Research
An overview of considerations for covariate-related methodological, statistical and analytical issues, and some additional considerations to studying pain management options…
Featured Publications
Confronting Racism in Pain Research: A Call to Action
Part one of these three-part series on addressing racism in pain research offers historical and theoretical background, as well as proposed shifts in language and practices in pain research frameworks, to promote the incorporation of antiracism research practices.
Strategy for addressing research-site overlap in pragmatic clinical trials
An early challenge was to ensure that PMC researchers across the 11 national, large-scale pain trials did not co-enroll participants in multiple, concurrent pain trials. Learn about the strategies developed to address this challenge.
Assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pragmatic clinical trial participants
This article reports on the development of a brief questionnaire to measure persons’ experience of the impact of COVID-19 on their health and well-being.
Adapting to Disruption of Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the PMC adapted its research as needed to continue its progress in advancing research on nonpharmacological pain management during this unprecedented disruption in research, healthcare, and everyday routines that affect how people live with pain.
A Special Issue of “American Psychologist” Focuses on Chronic Pain as Ongoing Public Health Crisis
The issue includes articles related to addressing and assessing risk factors for chronic pain and opioid misuse and articles related to psychological and integrated treatment approaches to pain management and opioid-risk mitigation.
The IASP Revised Definition of Pain
Recently, a multidisciplinary group of leading experts in pain updated the definition of “pain” on behalf of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). Particularly relevant is the acknowledgement that pain is a personal, subjective and multidimensional experience that can be shaped by a range of biological, psychological and social factors.
