EDITORIAL A Different Type of Procedure for a Different Type of Pain

In a randomized, placebo-controlled trial de-scribed in this issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, Fregni and colleagues studied the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on pain and quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia (1). These investigators ob-served that this noninvasive approach was safe and effective for the short-term treatment of fibromyalgia-associated pain. The study also highlights the rapid movement toward neuromodulatory treatment of chronic pain, which requires a paradigm shift in how we think of chronic pain and its management. The use of various procedures to treat pain is certainly nothing new. For centuries, many procedures have been performed to ameliorate the “source ” of pain and typically have been aimed at eliminating periphera