AIMS To test the hypothesis that non-specific upper limb pain arises from altered pain perception with reduced tolerance of sensory stimuli. METHODS Subjects undergoing clinical examination as part of a community based survey of upper limb disorders were invited to return for an assessment of pain tolerance. A standardised algorithm was used to classify the 94 participants according to whethe...

BACKGROUND The cold pressor task (CPT) was originally developed as a clinically indicative cardiovascular test, and quantifies vascular response and pulse excitability when a subject's hand is immersed into ice water. Since the test procedure results in a gradually increasing cold pain, the CPT has been widely used as a nociceptive stimulus in experimental studies on adults and children. AIM ...

A growing body of literature suggests that the experience of clinical pain differs across ethnocultural groups. Additionally, some evidence indicates greater sensitivity to experimentally induced pain among African Americans; however, most studies have included only one pain modality. This study examined ethnic differences in responses to multiple experimental pain stimuli, including heat pain,...

BACKGROUND Pain is a cardinal symptom in individuals with whiplash-associated disorders (WAD). We aimed to compare pain characteristics between individuals with WAD and individuals reporting chronic pain from other causes, and to determine whether potential differences were accounted for by experimental pain tolerance. METHODS Data from the 6th Tromsø Study (2007-2008, n = 12,981) were analys...

Despite evidence supporting the existence of important sex-related differences in pain, the mechanisms underpinning such differences are not well understood. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between sex and pubertal differences in autonomic arousal and pain tolerance to laboratory pain stimuli in healthy children. We tested the following specific hypotheses: (1) females woul...

chronic pain is a prevalent and debilitating condition, conveying immense human burden. suffering from chronic pain is not only caused by painful symptomatology, but also through a wide range of psychopathological and physical consequences, including depression and anxiety disorders, impaired sleep and cognition, cardiovascular morbidity and impaired sexual function, all contributing to diminis...

GABAergic drugs can change analgesic effect of morphine. Wide dynamic range (WDR) neurons play an important role in pain transmission and may change behaviors in morphine tolerance. In this study WDR neuron behaviors in morphine tolerant rats and rats treated with GABA agonists, were recorded to elucidate the effect of morphine and GABA agonists on WDR behavioral changes. Rats were divided to 4...

GABAergic drugs can change analgesic effect of morphine. Wide dynamic range (WDR) neurons play an important role in pain transmission and may change behaviors in morphine tolerance. In this study WDR neuron behaviors in morphine tolerant rats and rats treated with GABA agonists, were recorded to elucidate the effect of morphine and GABA agonists on WDR behavioral changes. Rats were divided to 4...

Tolerance to morphine analgesia following repeated administration disturbs the continuation of opioid therapy for severe pain. Emerging evidence suggests that the development of morphine tolerance may be antagonized by painful stimuli. To clarify the detailed mechanisms of these phenomena, we examined the effects of several pain stimuli on morphine-induced tolerance. Subcutaneous (s.c.) injecti...