Investigating the Transition from Acute to Chronic Pain: The Role of the Exploration-Exploitation Dilemma and Psychological Traits

We examined exploration-exploitation decisions during acute pain recovery. Three participants with recent fractures  provided longitudinal data (90-day). Pain showed strong temporal autocorrelation (previous-day pain predicting next-day pain). Fear of pain and baseline anxiety were associated with greater avoidance and higher pain, supporting the value of decision-making models in pain research.