Dr Sarah Fraser hosts a discussion on this challenging area of care with Dr Maureen Allen, a family physician in Antigonish, NS. Dr Allen shares insights that research in noninvasive neuroimaging has revealed about how the brain adapts to chronic pain and how we can reframe our thinking about chronic pain to enhance patient care.

This conversation was sparked by the “PEER simplified chronic pain guideline” published in CFP in March 2022. The other key article Dr Allen mentions was published in Brain: “Shape shifting pain: chronification of back pain shifts brain representation from nociceptive to emotional circuits.”