Embodied Pain: Psychological, Neurophysiological and Clinical Perspectives on Body-Pain Interactions

Session Title: Embodied Pain: Psychological, Neurophysiological and Clinical Perspectives on Body-Pain Interactions

Topic: CLINICAL SCIENCE

Description of Workshop: Pain is more than a symptom – pain is increasingly recognized as a complex, embodied phenomenon, intrinsically linked to the representation and perception of one’s own body. Growing insights into the bidirectional relationship between body and pain are driving both basic and applied research. Building on recent theoretical advances on body-pain interactions, this topical workshop introduces novel approaches to uncover the underlying mechanisms and to explore its therapeutic potential. For this purpose, three leading research experts will comprehensively cover key perspectives of the topic, ensuring a thorough exploration that spans from psychological and neuroscientific approaches to clinical applications.
Robin Bekrater-Bodmann, head of the Psychobiology of Chronic Pain working group at the Scientific Center for Neuropathic Pain, RWTH Aachen University (Germany), will introduce key principles on how body-related cues and multisensory signals interact with fundamental nociceptive processes to shape pain perception in both clinical and non-clinical populations, with a focus on neuropathic conditions. Drawing on novel experimental data from more than 250 healthy participants, he proposes that body perception itself should be considered a stimulus of varying salience, capable of modulating nociception within the central nervous system. The theoretical and clinical implications of this new model of embodied pain processing will be discussed.
These insights will be further developed by Catherine Mercier, Research Chair in Sensorimotor Rehabilitation and Pain at Laval University (Canada). She will present psychophysical and neurophysiological evidence of altered multisensory and sensorimotor integration processes in individuals with acute (experimental) and chronic pain, including those with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and fibromyalgia. She will further explore how these alterations relate to self-reported disturbances in body perception and to adaptation following sensorimotor perturbations. The findings suggest that perceptual abnormalities in pain populations do not necessarily result in deficits of motor control or adaptation, carrying important implications for therapeutic approaches aimed at correcting disturbed body representations in individuals with chronic pain.
New approaches to correct body representation in chronic pain will be presented in the contribution by Jennifer S. Lewis, Associate Professor of Clinical Research at the University of the West of England, Bristol (United Kingdom). She will present recent brain imaging findings in CRPS that reveal the central mechanisms linking pain and body representation, indicating a neurosignature for body perception disturbance. Insights into assessment techniques for body perception disturbances within the clinical setting will illustrate how disturbed body perceptions can be modulated by rehabilitation using targeted interdisciplinary approaches that consider contextual factors. In particular, she will emphasize the significance of virtual reality for pain treatment, while outlining anticipated directions for its future use in clinical practice.
Through these three contributions, the workshop will bridge the gap from (altered) bodily experience to neurophysiological mechanisms and clinical translation, aiming to deepen the understanding and application of principles underlying body-pain interactions. Its translational relevance lies in clarifying the pivotal link between bodily perception and pain, offering a novel conceptual framework that may foster clinical research and inform future therapeutic strategies for chronic pain.

Speakers