The problem of pain

Magnets, leeches or water all prove to be terrific tools when treating pain. HEALTH looks at the latest developments in pain relief.

HEALTH

By Eve IRVINE

Everyone gets aches at times but millions of people live with almost constant widespread pain: they have fibromyalgia. It’s a condition for which there is no known cause, no known cure and which is increasingly crippling young women.

Its affects 3% of the population and while it can lead to depression, depression is not said to be the cause. The trigger for the painful condition remains unknown. The brain controls our perception of pain, and so problems there are thought to lie beneath the discomfort.

"Indeed one could say that it is in the head because it is the reception of pain, those receptors in the brain and the sensitivity to pain that increases. Your average person won't wince at a handshake or pat on the back but for people with fibromyalgia that can be really painful," notes Dr Philippe Ducamp, a specialist in the disorder.

In France doctors are looking at the role the brain can play in easing the pain. They’re studying a technique called 'Magnetic trans-cranial stimulation'. It involves using a device to apply magnetic waves to the brain's motor cortex, which controls movement in the body.

At first the twenty minute sessions are needed once a day; then once a week, then once a fortnight, and finally every month for three months. This re-establishes the body's natural system of regulating pain.

Without using medication, this method of completely safely stimulating the brain makes it possible to obtain a prolonged pain reducing effect. And it works for patients who don't respond to medication - or who simply don't want to use it.

Mairead Dundas

Presenter

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