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Pain tolerance in patients presenting to primary care and physiotherapy services with upper limb disorders

Pain tolerance in patients presenting to primary care and physiotherapy services with upper limb disorders
Pain tolerance in patients presenting to primary care and physiotherapy services with upper limb disorders
Background: Arm pain is a common cause of incapacity for work and is often attributed to occupational activities, but in many cases the pathogenesis is unclear.
Objective: To investigate whether arm pain in the absence of identifiable underlying pathology is associated with reduced tolerance of painful sensory stimuli.
Methods: 133 incident cases of arm pain, recruited from primary care and physiotherapy services, were classified according to a validated diagnostic algorithm. Pain tolerance was measured at three sites in each arm in response to electrocutaneous stimulation. Associations with pain tolerance (the geometric mean of the six measurements at 5 Hz) were assessed by linear regression, and findings were summarised as proportional changes in pain tolerance.
Results: Pain tolerance was generally lower than in an earlier community survey. Women had a lower tolerance than men. After allowance for sex, age, use of analgesics and anatomical extent of pain, there was no indication of reduced tolerance in patients with non-specific pain relative to those with specific local pathology.
Conclusions: Pain tolerance may be generally reduced in patients presenting to medical services with arm pain, but those with non-specific pain do not seem to have lower tolerance than those with identifiable local pathology.
research, patients
1351-0711
349-351
Ryall, Claire
ad80f40b-63b2-45a0-b958-c1d1bbc28440
Coggon, David
2b43ce0a-cc61-4d86-b15d-794208ffa5d3
Peveler, Robert
93198224-78d9-4c1f-9c07-fdecfa69cf96
Reading, Isabel
6f832276-87b7-4a76-a9ed-b4b3df0a3f66
Palmer, Keith T.
0cfe63f0-1d33-40ff-ae8c-6c33601df850
Ryall, Claire
ad80f40b-63b2-45a0-b958-c1d1bbc28440
Coggon, David
2b43ce0a-cc61-4d86-b15d-794208ffa5d3
Peveler, Robert
93198224-78d9-4c1f-9c07-fdecfa69cf96
Reading, Isabel
6f832276-87b7-4a76-a9ed-b4b3df0a3f66
Palmer, Keith T.
0cfe63f0-1d33-40ff-ae8c-6c33601df850

Ryall, Claire, Coggon, David, Peveler, Robert, Reading, Isabel and Palmer, Keith T. (2007) Pain tolerance in patients presenting to primary care and physiotherapy services with upper limb disorders. Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 64 (5), 349-351. (doi:10.1136/oem.2006.027805).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: Arm pain is a common cause of incapacity for work and is often attributed to occupational activities, but in many cases the pathogenesis is unclear.
Objective: To investigate whether arm pain in the absence of identifiable underlying pathology is associated with reduced tolerance of painful sensory stimuli.
Methods: 133 incident cases of arm pain, recruited from primary care and physiotherapy services, were classified according to a validated diagnostic algorithm. Pain tolerance was measured at three sites in each arm in response to electrocutaneous stimulation. Associations with pain tolerance (the geometric mean of the six measurements at 5 Hz) were assessed by linear regression, and findings were summarised as proportional changes in pain tolerance.
Results: Pain tolerance was generally lower than in an earlier community survey. Women had a lower tolerance than men. After allowance for sex, age, use of analgesics and anatomical extent of pain, there was no indication of reduced tolerance in patients with non-specific pain relative to those with specific local pathology.
Conclusions: Pain tolerance may be generally reduced in patients presenting to medical services with arm pain, but those with non-specific pain do not seem to have lower tolerance than those with identifiable local pathology.

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More information

Published date: 2007
Keywords: research, patients

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 62558
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/62558
ISSN: 1351-0711
PURE UUID: d87e11b4-9f2e-4cda-857b-22bcccd460f8
ORCID for David Coggon: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1930-3987
ORCID for Robert Peveler: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5596-9394
ORCID for Isabel Reading: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1457-6532

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Date deposited: 09 Sep 2008
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:02

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Contributors

Author: Claire Ryall
Author: David Coggon ORCID iD
Author: Robert Peveler ORCID iD
Author: Isabel Reading ORCID iD
Author: Keith T. Palmer

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