Doing Pain Research Differently

Recognizing that pain is a complex experience that crosses many dimensions of health and wellness, pain research should equally occur from many different perspectives. The second initiative we have as part of kNOw-PAIN is “doing pain research differently”. This initiative involves combining basic science, quantitative, and qualitative methodologies, working in partnership with people with lived experience of pain, clinicians, and policy makers. Since pain is a multifaceted problem, it requires an interdisciplinary research approach through collaborations across traditional academic and sector boundaries. Bringing together diverse perspectives will foster the creation and implementation of innovative strategies to combat the urgent problem of pain.

As this initiative continues to grow, “doing pain research differently” will require us to challenge even the most common taken-for-granted designs in research, actively seek new opportunities for non-traditional collaborations, new ways of understanding the pain of another person, and even asking questions in ways that might seem unfamiliar at first. Through a blend of prudence, rigour, critical thinking, and creativity, we believe that considering ways that pain research can be done otherwise will lead to not only new research findings but also new ways of thinking about the problems of pain.

Ongoing projects:

Investigating migraine by combining brain scanning techniques (i.e., EEG and fMRI) with qualitative methodologies to better capture and understand the experience of migraine in women.

This project is an interdisciplinary collaboration in Dr. David Seminowicz’s lab, led by postdoctoral researcher Dr. Merna Seliman.

Co-investigators:
Dr. Chan, Director of the John H. Kreeft Headache Clinic at Victoria Hospital
Dr. Cooper, Chief of Clinical Neurosciences and Senior Medical Director at London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Care.