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Pain

Pain Neuroscience news articles cover science research about pain receptors, nociceptors, nociception, sensory neurons, somatosensory cortex, chronic pain, acute pain, nocioceptors, musculoskeletal pain, therapies, phantom limb pain and other pain research.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Pain

·March 19, 2021·3 min read

Virtual Reality Could Help to Reduce Pain for People With Nerve Injuries

Virtual reality can help reduce painful sensations following touch people with nerve damage experience.

Featured Neuroscience Pain Psychology

·October 1, 2018·4 min read

Virtual Reality Reduces Pain and Increases Performance During Exercise

Researchers report virtual reality can help to lower pain levels and increase performance when undertaking physical activity. Participants using VR reported a pain intensity 10% lower than those not using the technology when performing isometric bicep curls.

This shows a child and her dad in a VR reality with VR glasses on

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Pain Psychology

·August 25, 2021·6 min read

Virtual Reality Shown to Reduce Pain and Anxiety in Children

Virtual reality helps to relieve pain and anxiety for children undergoing medical procedures, researchers report.

Image shows a woman holding her head in pain.

Featured Neurology Pain

·January 4, 2017·3 min read

Vitamin D Deficiency Increases Chronic Headache Risk

A new study links frequent chronic headaches with lower serum vitamin D levels.

This shows an older man with his hand on his head

Brain Cancer Featured Neurology Neuroscience Pain

·August 8, 2021·3 min read

Vitamin D Reduces Need for Opioid Pain Relief in Cancer Patients

Cancer patients with vitamin D deficiency under palliative care reported a decreased need for opioids to control pain and reduced symptoms of fatigue when given vitamin D supplementation.

This shows a person holding their head while watching a movie.

Featured Neuroscience Pain

·November 27, 2025·6 min read

Watching Pain on Screen Can Make Your Body Flinch

Watching someone experience pain on screen activates your own brain’s touch-processing system in a highly organized, body-specific way. Visual regions of the brain contain hidden maps of the body that allow sight alone to trigger sensations normally produced by physical contact.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Pain

·May 30, 2022·4 min read

Wearable Sensor Finds Dancers Are Dancing Through Pain

A newly designed wearable sensor shows many semi-professional and professional dancers continue to dance while experiencing significant pain.

This shows a woman standing next to a lake on a snowy day

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Pain

·September 26, 2021·4 min read

Weather Can Affect Pain Tolerance

Temperature and barometric pressure are strongly related to cold pain tolerance and pressure pain tolerance, a new study reports.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Pain

·June 23, 2021·4 min read

Western High-Fat Diet Can Cause Chronic Pain

A Western-style diet, high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats, increases symptoms of inflammation, neuropathy, and chronic pain. However, changing to a lower-fat diet can help reverse or relieve symptoms of inflammatory pain disorders.

This shows a brain with a man undergoing a medical procedure below it.

Featured Neuroscience Pain Psychology

·July 28, 2025·3 min read

What You Expect Shapes How Much Pain You Feel

A new brain imaging study reveals that how people expect pain relief—through visual cues or treatment explanations—can significantly influence how much pain they actually feel. External cues, like symbols signaling less pain, consistently reduced pain perception and altered brain regions tied to pain processing. In contrast, expectations based on treatment information were less consistent and instead activated brain areas involved in evaluation and meaning.