Key Facts

• Hudnall’s neck injury caused numbness and muscle loss in his right hand, and he later developed severe, pulsing pain.
• The pain has kept Hudnall from working for three years, and he says it persists despite medication, therapy, electrical stimulation, and lidocaine injections.
• About one in four American adults lives with chronic pain, defined as pain lasting more than three months.
• Pain specialist Lara Crock said chronic pain can continue even after the original injury has healed.
• Washington University researchers are developing a home-wearable biofeedback headset intended to train patients to increase brain waves that may ease pain.
• Researchers are also testing non-opioid drugs that block sodium channels in nerve cells to limit pain signals.
• Other treatment approaches described in the article include devices that stimulate the vagus nerve to reduce pain in some patients with rheumatoid arthritis or migraine headaches.