Stanford Pain Medicine

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Stanford Pain Medicine

The Stanford Division of Pain Medicine merges the tripartite mission of clinical care, education, an

The Division of Pain Medicine at Stanford University seeks to predict, prevent and alleviate pain through science, education and compassion.

11/14/2025

We asked people who live with chronic pain what advice they would give to someone newly diagnosed. Here’s what they shared.

11/12/2025

People with fibromyalgia feel pain more strongly because their brains process it differently. Dr. Sean Mackey explains that the same pressure that feels mild to most people can feel much more painful to them. This may be because their body’s natural “brake system” for pain — something called conditioned pain modulation — isn’t working well.

11/07/2025

Fibromyalgia isn’t just body aches—it rewires how the brain processes pain, disrupts sleep, and affects daily life. Treatments focus on symptom management through movement, mindfulness, lifestyle changes, and medications.

Learn more about causes, diagnosis, and options: https://stan.md/490THGG

11/06/2025

A home-based, skills-focused VR program demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in individuals with high-impact chronic low back pain. Remarkably, two-thirds of participants were reclassified to a lower-impact pain category, with these benefits sustained for a full year.

The intervention integrates pain neuroscience education with evidence-based self-regulation strategies, including cognitive-behavioral skills, mindfulness, and meditation, supporting improvements in pain interference, sleep quality, and functional capacity.

This VR program shows a home-based, low-risk option that can deliver real, durable improvements that last a full year.

Full paper: https://bit.ly/49EW7eg

11/05/2025

A new MRI study of people with long-lasting post-injury headaches found almost no signs of low fluid pressure in the brain. Researchers compared 97 people with persistent headaches to 96 healthy participants using a special MRI scoring system.

The results suggest doctors should look beyond low brain fluid pressure when figuring out why headaches persist, helping guide better treatment and support.

Full paper: https://bit.ly/3LpCJIf

11/04/2025

What if your doctors could try out treatments on your digital twin before you even take them?

Doctors mostly treat pain patients the same way, even though everyone experiences pain differently. Stanford researchers are building digital twins, a computer model of a real person that learns from their data—like heart rate, sleep, lab tests, and reports about their pain. The twin can forecast changes in your pain and test treatments on the computer before trying them in real life.

The twins live inside learning health systems, which collect information from many patients and use it to update care and improve treatment over time. Stanford’s CHOIR platform already does this by tracking patient-reported outcomes, wearables, and other health data to guide treatment and monitor outcomes.

The idea is that combining digital twins with learning health systems could give every patient personalized, precise pain care that adapts in real time and improves continuously.

Full paper: https://bit.ly/4ohutIO

10/30/2025

Where you live should not determine how much pain you feel.

Rural Americans experience more chronic pain and have less access to effective care, a new paper says. Limited resources and long distances make it difficult to deliver comprehensive, evidence-based pain management.

About 60 million people live in rural areas. They are more likely to work physically demanding jobs, have lower incomes, and live far from clinics. Chronic pain affects 31% of rural residents versus 20% of urban residents, and pain tends to be more severe with fewer pain-free years.

The opportunity: Nurses are in nearly every community and often serve as primary providers in rural areas. They can deliver holistic, patient-centered care, leverage telehealth to extend reach, and partner with local institutions to support evidence-based interventions like Empowered Relief®.

Next steps: Nurses can also advocate for policy changes, mentor rural clinicians, and lead research tailored to rural needs. Addressing rural pain disparities requires action at every level to ensure that a patient’s zip code does not determine the quality of care.

Full paper: https://bit.ly/3X8mSQI

10/29/2025

Fibromyalgia causes widespread pain all over the body, often making people feel stiff in the mornings, tired, and mentally foggy. It can also lead to stomach problems, Dr. Sean Mackey explains.

Doctors used to diagnose it by checking for "tender points" on the body, but now they look at other signs like pain in multiple areas and how severe the symptoms are. While it used to affect mostly women, more men are being diagnosed with it now.

Another big issue with fibromyalgia is sleep. People with it often can’t get deep, restful sleep, which makes everything harder to manage. We don’t fully understand why fibromyalgia happens, but it’s clear that it’s a serious challenge, especially for women.

10/24/2025

Good pain care means honest conversations.

10/23/2025

Heat and Cold for Pain

Cold
-Reduces inflammation & slows nerve firing → less pain
-Numbs an area effectively
-Use carefully to avoid frostbite
-Regular, safe exposure can increase pain thresholds over time

Heat
-Boosts blood flow
-Relaxes muscles
-Feels good & can reduce perceived pain

10/22/2025

Diagnosing CRPS requires looking at the whole story: your symptoms, a physical exam, checklists, and targeted tests help doctors pinpoint the pain.

Address

1070 Arastradero Road, Ste 200
Palo Alto, CA
94022

Telephone

+16507249143

Website

http://med.stanford.edu/pain

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