• Katsuyoshi Tanaka, Tomohiko Nishigami, Akira Mibu, Ryota Imai, Masahiro Manfuku, and Akihito Tanabe.
• Department of Rehabilitation, Tanabe Orthopaedics, Osaka, Japan.
• Pain Pract. 2021 Jul 1; 21 (6): 646-652.

ObjectivesIncreased evidence indicates that pain location affects central sensitization (CS)-related symptoms. In addition, pain location and pain duration may be intricately related to CS-related symptoms. However, these factors have been investigated separately. This study aimed to investigate the association between CS-related symptoms and pain location and/or pain duration in patients with musculoskeletal disorders.MethodsSix hundred thirty-five participants with musculoskeletal disorders were included in this cross-sectional study. All participants were assessed for pain location, pain duration, central sensitization inventory (CSI), EuroQol-5 dimension, and brief pain inventory. The participants were categorized into 3 groups based on pain location (spinal, limb, and both spinal and limb pain) and into 2 groups based on pain duration (acute and chronic pain).ResultsThe interaction between pain location and pain duration were not significant on CSI score (P > 0.05). The odds ratio for higher CSI score (≥ 40) in patients with both spinal and limb pain vs. those with spinal or limb pain was 2.64 (P < 0.01) and that in patients with chronic pain vs. those with acute pain was 1.31 (P = 0.52). In addition, the prevalence of higher CSI scores in the combination of chronic and "both spinal and limb" pain was high (23.1%, adjusted residual = 4.48).ConclusionsPain location independently influenced CSI scores, and the combination of both spinal and limb pain and chronic pain indicated high CSI scores. The combination of pain location and pain duration is an important clue that points to CS-related symptoms.© 2021 World Institute of Pain.

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