New publication in Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Open
Using functional neuroimaging, we report that people with chronic knee pain due to osteoarthritis exhibit greater prefrontal cortex activity during a step-up task compared to walking, likely reflecting larger task demand. Further, pain-related catastrophizing, but not pain severity, was related to a smaller increase in prefrontal cortex activity from walking to step-up.
These findings suggest that people with knee osteoarthritis may need greater executive resources and pain modulation during physically demanding daily activities compared to walking and that pain catastrophizing may be related to lower prefrontal cortex reserve during daily activities.
First author: Soyoung Lee, PhD
Free full text at this link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665913125000512