The first portion of data from the above COVID-chronic pain research has been analysed and the findings are as follow in summary.

It was found that people with chronic pain self-report significant increases in their pain levels during lock-down. They are also much more adversely impacted by lock-down in terms of psychological and physical well-being compared to non-pain counterparts. The findings highlight the role of pain catastrophising and reduced physical exercise on perceived changes in pain during lock-down. We discuss these factors as potential targets for remote pain management to mitigate lock-down-related suffering in people with chronic pain. The data supports calls for rapid adaptation of care provision in the current crisis.

We believe this message is important right now, so it was decided to publish a preprint to make the information accessible to patients and particularly pain management clinicians.

Please use the following link to access the full preprint document were a full PDF is available https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.04.20122564v1