Engagement Annual Research Day

“A patient once told me, ‘It’s hard to maintain personal relationships when it hurts to be hugged,’” said Dr. Tara Packham, discussing the functional consequences of allodynia. Dr. Packham was just one presenter amongst many at the Michael G. DeGroote National Pain Centre’s 2022 Annual Research Day. In addition to her presentation on allodynia, Dr. Packham, along with her colleague Dr. Lisa Carlesso, also provided an overview of the IMPRinT Lab and the importance of understanding pain with movement to optimize rehabilitation for musculoskeletal disorders.

The 2022 Annual Research Day saw a return to an in-person format and was held in the Royal Botanical Gardens’ Café Annex, in Burlington, Ontario. In addition to Dr. Packham, presenters included Dr. Parminder Raina, of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), who discussed building a population-based platform for research on aging and the opportunities for pain research within CSLA; Dr. Fei Geng, who discussed who is susceptible to developing CPSP; Dr. Yong Fang Zhu and Peter Kan of McMaster’s Singh Lab, who looked at computational analysis and modeling for neuropathic pain; Dr. PJ Devereaux, who provided an overview of the PVC-RAM-1 Trial and potential to improve post-hospital discharge pain after surgery.

The 2023 Annual Research Day took place in May 2023. Subjects included statin-based muscular pain research, corticomuscular coherence brain-computer interface to treat chronic neck pain, treatment of chronic temporomandibular pain disorders: a clinical guideline; Opioid Reduction in Orthopedic Surgery (OREOS): a feasibility randomized controlled trial in total knee replacements; and a systematic review on postoperative pain and neurocognitive outcomes after non-cardiac surgery.

The Institute’s Research Days serve as a wonderful way to introduce exciting new projects, as well as showcase interdepartmental collaborations at McMaster University, addressing the way that pain presents across a multitude of illnesses and following many medical procedures.

Top: Dr. Parminder Raina, of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging discusses building a population-based platform for research on aging.

Middle: Drs.Tara Packham and Lisa Carlesso of the IMPRinT Lab discuss understanding pain with movement to optimize rehabilitation.

Bottom: Dr. Kim Madden, of the departments of Surgery and Health Research Methods, Evidence & Impact (HEI), presents on the OREOS project at the May meeting.