Sleep More, Hurt Less

March 30, 2017 by Sian Smale

This week we are excited to welcome guest writer and soon-to-be Physical Therapist Sara Suddes to Rayner & Smale. I met Sara while teaching at UCSF and was excited to hear about the topic for her final-year evidence based practice presentation. Before transferring in PT school, Sara worked as a newspaper reporter. Sara has spent many months researching the bidirectional relationship between sleep and pain and has put her brilliant writing skills to use to share with us her thoughts about sleep and pain.

The Neuromatrix of pain overlaps with the functional neuroanatomy of sleep

September 17, 2015 by Sian Smale

The previous blog explored the research showing how the relationship between pain and sleep is bidirectional. What explains this two-way relationship? Many of the articles suggested it is due to the multiple functions of neurotransmitters. Curious to know more about the overlap in functional areas of the brain involved in sleep and pain, I decided to compare the regions of the brain involved in wake and sleep and the neuromatrix.

The bidirectional relationship between sleep disorders and pain conditions

September 15, 2015 by Sian Smale

The primary problem I treat as a Physiotherapist is pain. Despite the link between pain and sleep being extensively studied over the past few decades, I know little about what the research has found. What I've come to understand is that the bidirectional relationship between sleep and medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease also extends to pain disorders. I'm curious about how many people suffer from chronic pain conditions and concurrent sleep disorders? This blog looks more closely at what we currently know from research about sleep and pain.

Can we pick the clinical signs of excessive sleepiness & sleep disorders?

September 11, 2015 by Sian Smale

There is a strong bidirectional relationship between sleep disorders and serious medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, depression, hypertension and cerebrovascular disease. The purpose of this blog is to broaden your knowledge about common sleep disorders and to understand what questions can be incorporated into the subjective examination to improve patient assessment and identification of sleep disorders.

Are we underestimating the importance of sleep?

September 04, 2015 by Sian Smale

Sleep is a function of the brain and a behaviour vital to the survival of all mammals. There is no single region of the brain, single neurotransmitter, or single neural pathway that is dedicated to sleep and wakefulness. Recently I completed an online course through University of Michigan on Sleep: Neurobiology, Medicine and Society. It was such a well run course hosted through Coursera. I learnt so much about the importance of sleep, how sleep works and it made me think one thing over and over again “How closely does sleep related to chronic pain disorders?”