Electroencephalographic gamma correlates with pain intensity attenuation in a prospective longitudinal study using an AI-powered digital device for pain self-management
Published October 21, 2026. Pain, physical function and pain interference improved over 12 weeks while participants used a digital self-management app alongside standard care. Average EEG power did not change significantly, and most reported gamma-pain relationships did not remain significant after correction, so the study cannot show that the app caused the improvement or that gamma is a validated pain marker.
Bie B, Klement MLR, Ghosn S, Lattouf EI, Schut S, Xu J, Cheng J, Ezell J, Borrebaeck CAK, Saab CY.
Scientific Reports · Publication date: 2026-10-21
Added to site: 2026-10-22
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-76932-9
Published October 21, 2026. Added to Neurofeedback.com October 22, 2026.
- Modalities
- EEG, Digital health, Artificial intelligence
- Clinical focus
- Chronic pain, Gamma activity, Pain self-management
- Population
- People with chronic low-back or neck pain receiving standard care
- Sample
- 20 participants evaluated at three visits over 12 weeks
- Intervention / method
- Standard care was complemented by daily pain-related activity self-management using the Paindrainer PDCC mobile application; EEG spectral features and validated patient-reported outcomes were tracked across visits
- Comparator
- Within-person change over time; no randomized, untreated or app-free control group
Clinician summary
Patient-reported pain, function and interference improved over three visits, but group-level mean power spectral density across electrodes and bands did not. Several inverse gamma-change associations were nominally significant but failed multiple-comparison correction; a 1 Hz-bin analysis reported a significant right-temporal gamma association. The analyses are exploratory.
How to interpret the findings
The cohort had 20 participants at one center, no control arm and concurrent standard care. The design cannot separate app effects, regression to the mean, natural history or other care. The main gamma associations did not survive multiple-comparison correction, and the early accepted article version may receive editorial changes before the final Version of Record.
Equipment and disclosures
Participants used the Paindrainer PDCC mobile application from Paindrainer AB. The checked abstract does not identify the EEG manufacturer. This record reports the vendor affiliation without implying independent validation or a BrainMaster connection.
The study was partially funded by Lund University. Maria L. Rosén Klement lists an affiliation with Paindrainer AB, the app developer, while the authors declared no competing interests. No correction, retraction or expression-of-concern relation appeared in the retained Crossref record; this is a bounded check. AI-assisted review.
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Summary prepared with AI assistance. Source verification does not imply an independent replication or a clinician's endorsement. Read our review method.