Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Work published in Current Biology shows that lightly brushing in an infant can reduce pain-related brain activity evoked by a clinically necessary medical procedure.


Deniz Gursul, working in the Paediatric Neuroimaging Group, recently published her research in Current Biology. Her work demonstrates that gentle stroking modulates noxious-evoked brain activity in human infants.

Parents intuitively stroke their babies at this optimal velocity. If we can better understand the neurobiological underpinnings of techniques like infant massage, we can improve the advice we give to parents on how to comfort their babies - Professor Rebeccah Slater, head of Paediatric Neuroimaging

Deniz Gursul measured newborn infants' responses to medically necessary blood tests by detecting changes in their brain activity and observing their behaviour.  Half the infants were gently stroked prior to the blood tests and the other half were not.

 

We hypothesised that gentle stroking would reduce pain-related brain activity, so we were pleased to see it. But we didn't see a reduction in how they reflex their limbs away from the heel lance. That could mean our intervention is perhaps causing a dissociation between limb movement and brain activity. 
- Professor Rebeccah Slater

The  stroking speed of approximately 3 centimeters per second is the same frequency that optimally activates a class of sensory neurons in the skin called C-tactile afferents. Sroking an adult at this speed has previously been shown to reduce pain in adults. This observation could explain anecdotal evidence of the soothing power of touch-based interventions such as infant massage and kangaroo care -- the practice of holding premature babies against the skin to encourage parent-infant bonding and possibly reduce pain.   

Previous work has shown that touch may increase parental bonding, decrease stress for both the parents and the baby, and reduce the length of hospital stay. Touch seems to have potential analgesic benefits without the risk of side effect.  - Professor Rebeccah Slater 

 

 

 

The work was reported by the BBC, and Rebeccah Slater discussed this work on BBC World GMT (18th December 2018, 12:45pm).

Similar stories

Oxford gets £122m funding for healthcare research

Health and care research in Oxford is to receive £122 million in government funding over the next five years to improve diagnosis, treatment and care for NHS patients. The funding was awarded to the two NIHR Biomedical Research Centres.

Study raises hope of pre-school type 1 diabetes screening programme

Researchers in Oxford have launched the first UK study in the general population to test for early markers of type 1 diabetes before children develop symptoms or need insulin.

Angelman syndrome: first patient to receive potential therapy in Oxford

Things that seemed impossible, only a few years ago, are happening today. The first patient in Europe and one of the first in the world was injected with a potential treatment, GTX-102, in a phase I/II clinical trial in Oxford.

New model for infant leukaemia announced

The breakthrough could lead to development of new treatments for infant Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants

For decades physicians believed that premature babies didn’t experience pain. Here’s what doctors know now – and the innovative solutions being embraced by today's caregivers.