‘Game-changer’ sleep study could help millions of Australians suffering from chronic pain
Jessie Luo enjoys spending time at the beach with her family and friends but for the last eight years the 23-year-old has had to learn to “just live with” a constant chronic pain in her shoulder, making everyday life more challenging.
“I’ve always had neck and shoulder pain especially on the right side,” she says.
“The pain can go up and down depending on what I do.”
The university graduate has found no answers to what’s causing her pain — an issue experts say is quite common.
Chronic pain is considered “normal life” for at least 3.4 million Australians, leaving many out of pocket financially and desperate for reprieve.
Ms Luo says the constant niggling pain in her shoulder means she often has poor quality of sleep.
“It does have an impact just in my overall mood and function,” she says.
Ms Luo will now work as a research assistant in a human study set to “dig deeper” into how sleep might influence pain.
Dr David Klyne from the University of Queensland (UQ) — who will conduct the research — says poor sleep coexists with chronic pain in up to 90 per cent of cases.
“This study is a game-changer in the sense that we are trying to understand exactly if and how sleep influences pain specifically chronic pain.”
He says it was previously understood that pain influenced how people slept but now researchers believe it’s the other way around.
Dr Klyne received a UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award for his research into how sleep influences pain recovery. (Supplied)
“Worse sleep primes the nervous and immune systems to enhance pain and potentially drive the development of chronic pain,” he says.
“In order for us to develop appropriate treatments for sleep to help pain, we need to be sure of exactly that being the case.
“Whether sleep does indeed influence pain.”
Jessie Luo says she often suffers poor quality of sleep. (Supplied)
He says chronic pain is one of the “biggest health challenges” in modern society.
“It affects one in three people globally,” he said.
“It causes more disability than heart disease and cancer combined.”
The annual cost on the Australian economy is about $70 billion a year, and could rise to $215.6 billion by 2050, Chronic Pain Australia (CPA) estimates.
CPA’s 2023 National Pain Survey reported a lack of awareness and support from employers, the government and wider public.
It found:
- 49 per cent of respondents had thought of taking their own life because of their pain
- 76 per cent had mental health issues associated with living with the pain
- 45 per cent reported self-medicating with harmful substances to manage their pain
- 65 per cent felt socially isolated
Study to monitor sleep
About 50 participants with chronic pain will be set up with sleep monitors in their own home for eight days as part of the research.
“I think what we are going to see is people with chronic pain have particular immune responses that interact with the nervous system that influences pain,” Dr Klyne says.
Researchers will use the headset to monitor their brain activity.
“Some days we will let them sleep as they normally would, but on other days we are going to manipulate their sleep,” he says.
“Making [the sleep] shorter and disrupted.
“There’s certain immune factors we will look at in the individual’s blood.”
He believes the research findings could change the way doctors and clinicians treat people with chronic pain.
“The impact is not just on individuals with chronic pain issues but also their families and society,” he says.
For Jessie Luo, any findings to help stop chronic pain could be life changing.
“I never really thought improving my sleep would be a means to improve my pain as well,” she says.
“I do know a lot of people with chronic pain who just live with it and get used to it.”
The study results are set to be released publicly by the end of next year.
