You are invited!
SBCPA & VCPA Present:
Presenter:
Paul Hansma, PhD is a physicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a researcher in the Neuroscience Research Institute. His inventions include Atomic Force Microscopes that function with samples in air or fluid, which have been commercialized by Digital Instruments (now Bruker) and Asylum Research (now part of Oxford Instruments), the Scanning Ion Conductance Microscope, and Bone Diagnostic Instruments including the Osteoprobe® commercialized by Active Life Scientific. It had been used on over 3,000 patients by 2015. The OsteoProbe® obtained European regulatory approval, is now CE Marked, has been used on over 3,000 patients. The FDA granted it De Novo status on July 11, 2018. His current research focus is on devices to quantify and reduce chronic pain as a part of a brain retraining program that includes education and activities. He has over 350 publications, with over 50,000 citations and an H factor of 112.
The Hansma group invents new gadgets to help people. The current focus of the lab is devices for the relief of Chronic Pain. These devices are based on recent breakthroughs in the understanding of Chronic Pain as the result of an undesirable neuroplastic transformation of the brain after prolonged exposure to nociceptive pain: neurons that fire together wire together. These devices aim to help patients reprogram their brain to stop the repetitive firing of the pain circuits, which is unproductive since, in many cases, there is no need to keep protecting tissue from further damage.
Course Outline
Timeline:
12:00- 12:05pm– Introduction of speaker and opening remarks
12:05-1:15pm- Didactic Presentation (feel free to make more granular)
1:15-1:30pm Q&A/evaluations
Topic:
A remote chronic pain recovery program with home-use hand temperature biofeedback has helped people learn how to decrease their chronic pain. The novel, home-use, hand temperature biofeedback device, the CalmStone, was developed in a five year program at UCSB involving over 20 students and 50 subjects. Four human studies at UCSB investigated using the CalmStone twice daily in a month-long chronic pain recovery studies that also included 1 individual and 5 group Zoom sessions. The observed changes before and after the studies were: Maximum Pain, Average Pain and Minimum Pain, as quantified with a visual analog scale, all went down. Pain as assessed by the McGill Pain Questionnaire went down, Spielberger State—Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) went down, and Satisfaction and Recovery Index (SRI) went up.
These studies are ongoing for now, but hopefully can be replaced by a sustainable, medical chronic pain recovery program here in Santa Barbara based on the results of these studies and the work of pioneers such as Dr. Howard Schubiner, Lorimar Moseley, DSc, PhD, FACP, Alan Gordon, LCWS and Beth Darnall, PhD.
Recent neuroscience work involving human brain organoids provide a research context for understanding the neural firing patterns that create the experience of chronic pain. This work reveals that firing in repetitive, persistent patterns is just what large collections of neurons do – even without any external input! Thus Neuroplastic pain can exist even after the structural origins have healed. And, no guilt is required. It is just necessary to change the repetitive, persistent neural firing patterns.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe 3 contributors to neuroplastic pain
- Describe and discuss 4 indications that neuroplastic pain is present
- Describe and discuss 4 mechanisms for decreasing neuroplastic pain
Continuing Education:
CPA is co-sponsoring with Santa Barbara County Psychological Association (SBCPA). The California Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. CPA maintains responsibility for this program and its contents.
Important Notice:
Those who attend the workshop and complete the CPA evaluation form will receive (1.5) continuing education credits. Please note that APA CE rules require that we give credit only to those who attend the entire workshop. Those arriving more than 15 minutes after the start time or leaving before the workshop is completed will not receive CE credits.
Please Note: This salon will be held via Zoom.
