To synthesize contemporary evidence on the relationship between language and pain perception, focusing on musculoskeletal rehabilitation and Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE), and its implications for clinical practice.
Key Findings:
Pain is conceptualized as an inferential and expectation-shaped experience influenced by attention, prior beliefs, and predictive processes, which has significant implications for clinical practice.
Verbal suggestion and semantic framing significantly influence pain-related neural and behavioral responses.
Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE) and language-based rehabilitation approaches can reduce fear and maladaptive threat appraisal when integrated into multimodal rehabilitation programs.
Interpretation:
Language functions as an active contextual and neurocognitive component of pain experience, influencing therapeutic alliance, behavioral engagement, and pain-related beliefs, which is crucial for effective treatment.
Limitations:
Methodological heterogeneity among studies, which may affect the reliability of the findings.
Short-term experimental paradigms that limit understanding of long-term effects.
Limited ecological validity, which may impact the generalizability of the results.
Conclusion:
Language-based interventions should be viewed as facilitators within broader biopsychosocial rehabilitation strategies rather than stand-alone treatments, emphasizing their importance in pain management. Future studies are needed to clarify the durability and mechanisms of linguistic modulation in pain rehabilitation.
by Giulia Leonardi, Francesco Bonanno, Angelo Alito, Amerigo Stamile, Carmela De Domenico, Antonio Di Dio, Francesca Sposito, Carmen Cucinotta, Adriana Tisano, Simona Portaro
