A comparison of four tests for assessing the pain sensitivity of different subjects and test areas

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Abstract
Different testing methods (4) were used to estimate the sensitivity of body surfaces to pain-causing stimuli for a group of 24 healthy male subjects [human]. The methods were determination of the heat pain threshold, determination of the pain threshold for pinching of a skin fold, discrimination of a sharp prick from a blunt contact and estimation of the pain caused by application of an ice-cold cylinder. Three different body regions were tested: the abdomen, the anterior surface of the neck and lateral surface of the thigh. Of the 3 body regions, the thigh area required the strongest stimulation for pain in all 4 tests. The neck was the most sensitive for cold pain, and the abdomen had the lowest threshold for heat pain. There was a barely statistically significant tendency for subjects relatively sensitive on 1 test to be also relatively sensitive on other tests. Correlation coefficients between any 2 tests on the same subject were always less than 0.6. Possible reasons for the relative lack of agreement among the results of the different pain tests were discussed.

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