A recent study from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine has revealed that men and women use different biological systems to manage chronic lower back pain.
The research shows that men rely on the body’s natural painkillers called opioids.
However, women use different non-opioid pathways to relieve pain.
Synthetic opioids
Synthetic opioids, such as morphine and fentanyl, are among the strongest painkillers available. These drugs work by binding to the same receptors in the body as natural painkillers, making them highly effective.
However, women often do not respond as well to these medications. According to Dr. Fadel Zeidan, professor of anesthesiology at UC San Diego, women may require higher doses to experience pain relief, putting them at greater risk of dependence and addiction.
“Dependence develops because people start taking more opioids when their original dosage stops working,” explained Dr. Zeidan.
He added that this might explain why women have a higher risk of opioid addiction. They are biologically less responsive to these drugs.
Meditation and pain relief
The study analyzed data from two clinical trials involving 98 participants, including both healthy individuals and those with chronic pain.
Participants took part in a meditation training program and then meditated while receiving either a placebo or naloxone – a drug that blocks both natural and synthetic opioids.
During the experiment, the back of the participant’s leg received a painful but harmless heat. The researchers compared how much pain relief participants had when their opioid system was blocked versus when it was intact.
The results highlighted significant gender differences in how meditation helps relieve pain:
In men, blocking the opioid system with naloxone reduced the pain-relieving effects of meditation. This suggests men depend on the body’s natural opioids for pain relief. In women, naloxone increased the pain relief women experienced during meditation, indicating they relied on non-opioid pathways to manage pain.
Additionally, both men and women with chronic pain benefited more from meditation than healthy participants.
Importance of sex-specific treatments
Dr. Zeidan emphasized the significance of these findings, stressing the need for sex-specific pain treatments.
“There are clear disparities in how pain is managed between men and women, but we haven’t seen a clear biological difference in the use of their endogenous systems before now,” he said.
“This study provides the first clear evidence that sex-based differences in pain processing are real and need to be taken more seriously when developing and prescribing treatment for pain.”
The study suggests that tailoring pain treatments to an individual’s sex could lead to better outcomes and reduce the reliance on opioid medications, particularly for women.
