Pain Avoidance in People with Migraine

Migraine Science Collaborative, 19 August 2022

Avoiding pain in order to minimize harm and injury is critical for survival. Although the ways people avoid pain are constantly revised and updated after the experience of a painful event, these behaviors can become disrupted when pain is repeated and inescapable.

Studies in animals have linked a brain region called the periaqueductal gray (PAG) to behavioral and other changes that take place during pain avoidance. However, it is unknown if the PAG and related regions have a similar role in pain avoidance in people.

Now, new research led by Wiebke Gandhi, University of Reading, UK, reveals that episodic migraine patients show… Read more…