Experimental pain altered participants’ sense of their bodies
Induced pain changed body-image measures during a randomized experiment, while sensory testing did not detect corresponding changes.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
During experimentally induced pain, participants reported greater body-image distortion than those in the sham-injection or control groups. The painful area could feel larger, while the sensory measures showed no detected change. This suggests that acute pain can alter body perception in this setting, without demonstrating the same pattern in persistent pain.
This experiment involved initially pain-free participants and temporary, induced pain. The abstract does not establish whether the body-image changes persist, occur in people with chronic pain, or explain a specific brain mechanism.
What researchers found
Body-image distortion
During the testing phase, the pain-injection group showed greater distortion on body-image measures than either the sham-injection or control group.
What changed
Participants completed body-image measures as well as sensory tests. During pain, the injection group showed greater distortion in perceived lower-back size, and a drawing task suggested that the painful body part was perceived as enlarged.
What stayed uncertain
The lack of detected sensory-test changes does not prove that every aspect of sensory processing was unaffected. The authors propose a role for perceptual and emotional factors, but the abstract does not establish the underlying mechanism.
The original publication
Perceiving pain alters body perception: the effects of acute pain on body image and sensory testing.
Budzisz A, Adamczyk WM, Luedtke K
Pain · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41289508
- Record checked
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