The effect of preconditioning on the modalities of pain management

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated the effect of positive preconditioning on the specific modality of verbal and touch interventions, in pain management.

Methods: We compared pain ratings in 51 participants who underwent a cold pressor test twice (T1, T2). The results from the first test were used as a reference. For the second test, the participants were divided into 5 groups. Four groups received verbal or touch intervention during the test, with or without preconditioning. The fifth group was a control group. We compared dVAS (pain ratings at T1 minus T2) between groups to assess the effect of the interventions and the preconditioning. We also explored the within-group association between dVAS and pain-related traits.

Results: We found a significant effect of preconditioning on dVAS. The post hoc test showed that the preconditioned verbal group reported higher dVAS than the non-preconditioned one. Participants' emotional awareness scores were negatively correlated with dVAS in the preconditioned touch group.

Conclusion: These data suggested that preconditioning enhances pain management, regardless of intervention modalities. However, the preconditioning effect for the touch modality was negatively associated with the participants' emotional awareness.

Practice implications: Communication must be adapted with caution, depending on the treatment and the patients' emotional status.

Keywords: Cold pressure test; Communication; Conditioning; Emotion; Pain; Speech; Touch.