IMPORTANCEEffective treatments for chronic spinal pain are essential to reduce the related high personal and socioeconomic costs.OBJECTIVE To compare pain neuroscience education combined with cognition-targeted motor control training with current best-evidence physiotherapy for reducing pain and improving functionality, gray matter morphologic features, and pain cognitions in individuals with chronic spinal pain. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSMulticenter randomized clinical trial conducted from January 1, 2014, to January 30, 2017, among 120 patients with chronic nonspecific spinal pain in 2 outpatient hospitals with follow-up at 3, 6, and 12 months. INTERVENTIONS Participants were randomized into an experimental group (combined pain neuroscience education and cognition-targeted motor control training) and a control group (combining education on back and neck pain and general exercise therapy). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Primary outcomes were pain (pressure pain thresholds, numeric rating scale, and central sensitization inventory) and function (pain disability index and mental health and physical health). RESULTS There were 22 men and 38 women in the experimental group (mean [SD] age, 39.9 [12.0] years) and 25 men and 35 women in the control group (mean [SD] age, 40.5 [12.9] years). Participants in the experimental group experienced reduced pain (small to medium effect sizes): higher pressure pain thresholds at primary test site at 3 months (estimated marginal [EM] mean, 0.971; 95% CI, -0.028 to 1.970) and reduced central sensitization inventory scores at 6 months (EM mean, -5.684; 95% CI, -10.589 to -0.780) and 12 months (EM mean, -6.053; 95% CI, -10.781 to -1.324). They also experienced improved function (small to medium effect sizes): significant and clinically relevant reduction of disability at 3 months (EM mean, -5.113; 95% CI, -9.994 to -0.232), 6 months (EM mean, -6.351; 95% CI, -11.153 to -1.550), and 12 months (EM mean, -5.779; 95% CI, -10.340 to -1.217); better mental health at 6 months (EM mean, 36.496; 95% CI, 7.998-64.995); and better physical health at 3 months (EM mean, 39.263; 95% CI, 9.644-66.882), 6 months (EM mean, 53.007; 95% CI, 23.805-82.209), and 12 months (EM mean, 32.208; 95% CI, 2.402-62.014). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEPain neuroscience education combined with cognition-targeted motor control training appears to be more effective than current best-evidence physiotherapy for improving pain, symptoms of central sensitization, disability, mental and physical functioning, and pain cognitions in individuals with chronic spinal pain. Significant clinical improvements without detectable changes in brain gray matter morphologic features calls into question the relevance of brain gray matter alterations in this population.TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02098005

An emerging technique in chronic pain research is MRI, which has led to the understanding that chronic pain patients display brain structure and function alterations. Many of these altered brain regions and networks are not just involved in pain processing, but also in other sensory and particularly cognitive tasks. Therefore, the next step is to investigate the relation between brain alterations and pain related cognitive and emotional factors. This review aims at providing an overview of the existing literature on this subject. Pubmed, Web of Science and Embase were searched for original research reports. Twenty eight eligible papers were included, with information on the association of brain alterations with pain catastrophizing, fear-avoidance, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Methodological quality of eligible papers was checked by two independent researchers. Evidence on the direction of these associations is inconclusive. Pain catastrophizing is related to brain areas involved in pain processing, attention to pain, emotion and motor activity, and to reduced top-down pain inhibition. In contrast to pain catastrophizing, evidence on anxiety and depressive symptoms shows no clear association with brain characteristics. However, all included cognitive or emotional factors showed significant associations with resting state fMRI data, providing that even at rest the brain reserves a certain activity for these pain-related factors. Brain changes associated with illness perceptions, pain attention, attitudes and beliefs seem to receive less attention in literature. Significance: This review shows that maladaptive cognitive and emotional factors are associated with several brain regions involved in chronic pain. Targeting these factors in these patients might normalize specific brain alterations.

These results indicate a higher amount of fat infiltration in the lumbar muscles, in the absence of clear atrophy, in continuous CLBP compared with RLBP. A lower metabolic activity of the lumbar muscles was seen in RLBP replicating a relative lower intensity in contractions performed by the lumbar muscles in RLBP compared with non-continuous and continuous CLBP. In conclusion, RLBP differs from continuous CLBP for both muscle structure and muscle function, whereas non-continuous CLBP seems comparable with RLBP for lumbar muscle structure and with continuous CLBP for lumbar muscle function. These results underline the differences in muscle structure and muscle function between different LBP populations.

Background Several studies have investigated the predictors of in-hospital mortality for COVID-19 patients who need to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). However, no data on the role of organizational issues on patients’ outcome are available in this setting. The aim of this study was therefore to assess the role of surge capacity organisation on the outcome of critically ill COVID-19 patients admitted to ICUs in Belgium. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of in-hospital mortality in Belgian ICU COVID-19 patients via the national surveillance database. Non-survivors at hospital discharge were compared to survivors using multivariable mixed effects logistic regression analysis. Specific analyses including only patients with invasive ventilation were performed. To assess surge capacity, data were merged with administrative information on the type of hospital, the baseline number of recognized ICU beds, the number of supplementary beds specifically created for COVID-19 ICU care and the “ICU overflow” (i.e. a time-varying ratio between the number of occupied ICU beds by confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients divided by the number of recognized ICU beds reserved for COVID-19 patients; ICU overflow present when this ratio is ≥ 1.0). Findings Over a total of 13,612 hospitalised COVID-19 patients with admission and discharge forms registered in the surveillance period (March, 1 to August, 9 2020), 1903 (14.0%) required ICU admission, of whom 1747 had available outcome data. Non-survivors (n=632, 36.1%) were older and had more frequently various comorbid diseases than survivors. In the multivariable analysis, ICU overflow, together with older age, presence of comorbidities, shorter delay between symptom onset and hospital admission, absence of hydroxychloroquine therapy and use of invasive mechanical ventilation and of ECMO, was independently associated with an increased in-hospital mortality. Similar results were found among the subgroup of invasively ventilated patients. In addition, the proportion of supplementary beds specifically created for COVID-19 ICU care to the previously existing total number of ICU beds was associated with increased an in-hospital mortality among invasively ventilated patients. The model also indicated a significant between-hospital difference in in-hospital mortality, not explained by the available patients and hospital characteristics. Interpretation Surge capacity organisation as reflected by ICU overflow or the creation of COVID-19 specific supplementary ICU beds were found to negatively impact ICU patient outcomes. Funding No funding source was available for this study.

Structural and functional brain alterations within regions involved in somatosensory, affective, and cognitive pain processing play a crucial role in the persistent pain of chronic MSKP patients. Accordingly, these brain alterations have to be taken into account when assessing and treating patients with chronic MSKP.