The Clinical journal of pain
-
Chronic patellofemoral pain (PFP) is a common orthopedic condition for which little is understood of the alterations in pain processing such as hyperalgesia, hypoesthesia, and the relationship of altered knee mechanics to hyperalgesia. We assessed pain, pressure pain thresholds (PPT), detection to light touch, and the relationship of pain and PPTs to knee abduction angle during a stair step down task between females with and without PFP. ⋯ These results suggest that PFP is characterized by an increase in both localized and centralized pain sensitivity that is related to movement mechanics. Thus, PFP has both biomechanical, nociceptive components as well as inferred aspects of altered central sensitization.
-
Synovitis is a frequent condition in knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and has been associated with pain. This study investigated the links between the pressure hyperalgesia, the clinical pain, the degree of the synovitis, inflammatory biomarkers, and tissue-specific biomarkers in KOA patients. ⋯ Patients without and with moderate to severe synovitis demonstrated local pressure hyperalgesia and increased degrees of: (1) systemic inflammation, (2) connective tissue degradation, (3) cartilage degradation, and (4) decreased synovial membrane degradation as compared with controls.
-
Affect balance style, a measure of trait positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), is predictive of pain and functioning in fibromyalgia and healthy individuals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the distribution of affect balance styles and the relationship between these styles and clinical factors in low back pain. ⋯ Our study revealed that there are important differences between trait affect balance styles in regard to pain, mood, and functioning in low back pain. Findings related to Reactive and Low affective styles suggest that relationships between affect, pain, and disability in low back pain extend beyond considering NA alone.
-
The aim of this study was to assess differences in the levels of hyperalgesia and cutaneous allodynia (CA) among women with migraine, temporomandibular disorders (TMD), or both. ⋯ More pronounced levels of hyperalgesia and CA were found in patients with both TMD and migraine. Thus, it is suggested that the concomitant presence of TMD and migraine may be related to intensification of central sensitization.
-
The principle aim of this study was to investigate the associations between heat pain (HP) perception, pain catastrophizing, and pain-related anxiety in a heterogenous cohort of community-dwelling adults with chronic pain admitted to a 3-week outpatient pain rehabilitation program. ⋯ The findings of this study extend the use of a standardized method for assessing HP in a heterogenous sample of adults with chronic pain. Although pain catastrophizing shares significant variance with pain-related anxiety, our findings suggest that either measure would be appropriate for use in future studies that incorporate the QST method of levels.