Wayne State University School of Medicine Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Robin Hanks, Ph.D., was invited to give four presentations at the Global Neuropsychology Congress in Porto, Portugal, on her research into chronic pain and traumatic brain injury. 

“As a faculty member, I was thrilled to attend the Global Neuropsychology Congress, as it allowed me to interact with other neuropsychology providers and researchers from around the world and to develop collaborative research and consultation for treatment programs for individuals with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. One of my residents also attended, and it was a great opportunity to mentor her and connect her with other neuropsychologists outside of the United States,” she said.

Dr. Hanks also is director of Training in Clinical Neuropsychology and project director of the Southeastern Michigan Traumatic Brain Injury System at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan.

She presented studies at the July conference that characterized the current state of treatment of chronic pain after traumatic brain injury; described the associations of chronic pain with psychosocial outcomes such as satisfaction with life, community integration, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance and symptoms of post-traumatic stress after traumatic brain injury; how the use of extreme phenotypes (those with very high and low pain levels) can help understand psychosocial outcomes after traumatic brain injury; and identifying facilitators and barriers to evidence-based chronic pain treatments for those with traumatic brain injury.

The international audience asked questions centered on how access to evidence-based treatment globally can be improved, Dr. Hanks added.

The studies were part of her overall research program and funding for the Southeastern Michigan Traumatic Brain Injury System, a federally designated center of excellence for the treatment and research of people with traumatic brain injury.

“This study enrolls individuals who have traumatic brain injury and who are receiving inpatient rehabilitation through the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan in the Detroit Medical Center and the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at WSU, and then we follow these individuals at one, two, five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 years post-injury. We have more than 1,000 individuals enrolled that we follow longitudinally to examine outcomes and recovery after traumatic brain injury,” Dr. Hanks said.

Three related studies were published in the January/February issue of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation. Another study, “Provider Identified Access Barriers to Delivering Acupuncture to Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury and Chronic Pain: A Cross-Sectional Self-Report Survey,” was published in the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine, with more to come.

“We have two other manuscripts in press related to these studies and they involve the use of acupuncture in this population; and the role of disability health beliefs, and workforce capacity as top determinants of chronic pain,” Dr. Hanks said.