Learned control over spinal nociception: Transfer and stability of training success in a long-term study

The descending pain inhibition is a system of endogenous pain control, able to reduce incoming nociceptive signals at the spinal dorsal horn level (Fields and Basbaum, 2006). It can be modulated by cognitive and emotional processes (Tracey and Mantyh, 2007; Bingel and Tracey, 2008; Wiech and Tracey, 2009). Recently, we have shown that healthy young adults can learn to use cognitive-emotional strategies to suppress their spinal nociception as quantified by the nociceptive flexor reflex (RIII reflex) when they are given visual feedback on their RIII reflex size, likely by learning to deliberately activate their descending pain inhibition (Ruscheweyh et al., 2015a; Ruscheweyh et al., 2015b).

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