BACKGROUND The goal of this study was to evaluate whether preoperative pressure pain sensitivity testing is predictive of postoperative surgical pain. METHODS Female subjects undergoing lower abdominal gynecologic surgery were studied. A pressure algometer was used preoperatively to determine the pressure pain threshold and tolerance. A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to assess postoperati...

The effect of Rapid Induction Analgesia (RIA) on pain tolerance and ratings of mechanically induced pain in the pain-sensitized forearm was investigated in 58 undergraduates. Posthypnotic suggestions of relaxation and analgesia did not influence pain ratings or tolerance, but relaxation ratings increased after RIA. When suggestions for analgesia were made throughout pain testing, ratings of pai...

In Malaysia, it is a common belief among health care workers that females and Indians have lower pain threshold. This experience, although based on anecdotal experience in the healthcare setting, does not allow differentiation between pain tolerance, and pain expression. To determine whether there is a difference in the tolerance to pain between the three main ethnic groups, namely the Malays, ...

OBJECTIVE Although numerous studies have independently examined ethnic differences in clinical and experimental pain, few have investigated differences in both sensitivity to controlled noxious stimuli and clinical pain reports in the same sample. The present experiment examined the effects of ethnicity (African American vs. white) on experimental pain tolerance and adjustment to chronic pain. ...

Previous research indicates that men typically tolerate more pain in experimental settings than women. One likely explanation for these group differences in pain tolerance is conformity to traditional, gender group social norms (i.e., the ideal man is masculine and tolerates more pain; the ideal woman is feminine and tolerates less pain). According to self-categorization theory, norms guide beh...

BACKGROUND Traditional pain assessment instruments are subjective in nature. They are limited to subjective reporting of the presence and magnitude of pain. There is no means of validating their response or assessing their pain tolerance. The objective of this study was to determine the potential value of a novel addition to the traditional physical examination concerning a patient's pain and m...

Chronic pain, including cancer-related pain, is a pain condition often caused by inflammation or dysfunctional nerves. Chronic pain treatment poses a significant health care challenge, where opioids especially morphine are widely used and patients often develop tolerance over time with aggravated pain. microRNA (miRNA) is known to play important roles in regulating gene expressions in the nervo...