SRP-Groeifinanciering: Pain Never Sleeps: Unravelling the Sleep-Pain Interaction in Patients with Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is the most common disease worldwide, leading to substantial disability and enormous societal costs and can thus be regarded as a public health disease. Insomnia is a major problem in the chronic pain population, including in patients with chronic neck/shoulder pain (CNSP), yet underlying mechanisms explaining the relation between sleep and pain are still poorly understood. Therefore, this Strategic Research Program aims at understanding the mechanisms underlying the sleep-pain interaction in patients with CNSP. Therefore, 2 studies will be performed. A first study will examine whether disturbing sleep increases pain and nervous system hypersensitivity in patients with CNSP and pain-free controls? A second study will examine whether treatment of insomnia in patients CNSP with insomnia will result in less pain and nervous system sensitivity at 6 months post- intervention. Given the ‘growth funding’ nature of the Strategic Research Program, a third work package aims at attracting competitive (inter)national funding to further unravel the sleep-pain interaction in various chronic pain subpopulations, and develop & test new innovative treatments for patients with chronic pain..