Pain is prevalent in MS, yet there is uncertainty about the nature of MS-related pain, how pain fluctuates over time in the short and long term, and how it relates to other symptoms of MS.
While pain has a substantial impact on people with MS, only a few studies have categorised the different types of pain that people with MS experience. Pain is commonly treated in people with MS, but they have reported low levels of relief.
This program of work will focus on understanding pain in MS by examining specific types of pain, in terms of prevalence, severity, predictability and its chronic nature. Dr Alice Saul and her team will examine pain management experiences by identifying which pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments are most frequently used, and which have the highest perceived effectiveness.
This work will focus on how pain relates to other symptoms of MS and how it fluctuates in the short-term (during the day) and long-term (multiple years).
This project is designed to improve understanding of individual types of pain in people with MS, to develop advice on managing pain for people with MS and health practitioners, and to design treatment intervention studies for specific types of pain.
Over the past 12 months, Dr Alice Saul and her team laid the groundwork to better understand how pain treatments are used in MS, and for different types of pain. So far, their analyses have explored the perceived effectiveness of various treatments in reducing pain and provided guidance for pain interventions. The team has also gained a deeper understanding of the reasons people with MS choose to discontinue pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain treatments.
This research helps improve our understanding of pain experiences in people with MS. It provides valuable insights for the next phase of Dr Saul’s project, which will use this knowledge to explore how pain levels change over time and how they relate to other symptoms and triggers. To do this, Dr Saul and her team will use the My SymptoMS app, which allows real-time tracking of symptoms. Dr Saul and her team are currently designing this project.
Over the next 12 months, Dr Saul and her team will work towards obtaining ethics approval for the MySymptoMS app project, initiating recruitment, and beginning data collection. They will also make their communication resources available for both people with MS and healthcare teams, ensuring they can be used to support pain management discussions.
Dr Saul currently has two papers under review with peer-reviewed journals and is preparing another seven manuscripts for publication.
Updated 31 March 2025
$225,000
2023
3 years
Current project
