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Not a general, symptom-unspecific, transdiagnostic marker for functional symptoms: sensorimotor processing of head control is intact in chronic pain

  • Introduction: Functional disorders are prevalent in all medical fields and pose a tremendous public health problem, with pain being one of the most common functional symptoms. Understanding the underlying, potentially unifying mechanism in functional (pain) disorders is instrumental in facilitating timely diagnosis, stigma reduction, and adequate treatment options. Neuroscientific models of perception suggest that functional symptoms arise due to dysregulated sensorimotor processing in the central nervous system, with brain-based predictions dominating the eventual percept. Experimental evidence for this transdiagnostic mechanism has been established in various functional symptoms. The goal of the current study was to investigate whether erroneous sensorimotor processing is an underlying transdiagnostic mechanism in chronic (functional) pain. Method: A total of 13 patients with chronic (functional) pain [three patients with chronic (functional) pain disorder, F45.40, ICD-10; 10 patients with chronic pain disorder with somatic andIntroduction: Functional disorders are prevalent in all medical fields and pose a tremendous public health problem, with pain being one of the most common functional symptoms. Understanding the underlying, potentially unifying mechanism in functional (pain) disorders is instrumental in facilitating timely diagnosis, stigma reduction, and adequate treatment options. Neuroscientific models of perception suggest that functional symptoms arise due to dysregulated sensorimotor processing in the central nervous system, with brain-based predictions dominating the eventual percept. Experimental evidence for this transdiagnostic mechanism has been established in various functional symptoms. The goal of the current study was to investigate whether erroneous sensorimotor processing is an underlying transdiagnostic mechanism in chronic (functional) pain. Method: A total of 13 patients with chronic (functional) pain [three patients with chronic (functional) pain disorder, F45.40, ICD-10; 10 patients with chronic pain disorder with somatic and psychological factors, F45.41, ICD-10]; and 15 healthy controls performed large combined eye-head gaze shifts toward visual targets, naturally and with increased head moment of inertia. We simultaneously measured participants’ eye and head movements to assess head oscillations at the end of the gaze shift, which are an established indicator of (transdiagnostic) sensorimotor processing deficits of head control. Results: Using a Bayesian analysis protocol, we found that patients with chronic (functional) pain and control participants stabilized their heads equally well (Bayes Factor 01 = 3.7, Bayes Factor exclusion = 5.23; corresponding to substantial evidence) during all sessions of the experiment. Conclusion: Our results suggest that patients with chronic (functional) pain do not show measurable symptom-unspecific sensorimotor processing deficits.show moreshow less

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Author: Franziska RegnathORCiD, Katharina BiersackORCiD, Nina JägerORCiD, Stefan GlasauerORCiD, Nadine LehnenORCiD
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2023.1294702
ISSN:1664-2295
Title of the source (English):Frontiers in Neurology
Document Type:Scientific journal article peer-reviewed
Language:English
Year of publication:2023
Volume/Year:14
EU-Project number / Contract (GA) number:956673
Article number:1294702
Fundername (EU):Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Way of publication:Open Access
Faculty/Chair:Fakultät 1 MINT - Mathematik, Informatik, Physik, Elektro- und Informationstechnik / FG Computational Neuroscience
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