Uthaikhup Sureeporn, Prasert Romchat, Paungmali Aatit, Boontha Kritsana
Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand; Back, Neck and Other Joint Pain Research Group, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
PLoS One. 2015 Jun 3;10(6):e0128946. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128946. eCollection 2015.
Age-related changes occur in both the peripheral and central nervous system, yet little is known about the influence of chronic pain on pain sensitivity in older persons. The aim of this study was to investigate pain sensitivity in elders with chronic neck pain compared to healthy elders.
Thirty elderly women with chronic neck pain and 30 controls were recruited. Measures of pain sensitivity included pressure pain thresholds, heat/cold pain thresholds and suprathreshold heat pain responses. The pain measures were assessed over the cervical spine and at a remote site, the tibialis anterior muscle.
Elders with chronic neck pain had lower pressure pain threshold over the articular pillar of C5-C6 and decreased cold pain thresholds over the cervical spine and tibialis anterior muscle when compared with controls (p < 0.05). There were no between group differences in heat pain thresholds and suprathreshold heat pain responses (p > 0.05).
The presence of pain hypersensitivity in elderly women with chronic neck pain appears to be dependent on types of painful stimuli. This may reflect changes in the peripheral and central nervous system with age.
外周和中枢神经系统都会出现与年龄相关的变化，但关于慢性疼痛对老年人疼痛敏感性的影响，我们知之甚少。本研究的目的是调查与健康老年人相比，患有慢性颈部疼痛的老年人的疼痛敏感性。
招募了30名患有慢性颈部疼痛的老年女性和30名对照者。疼痛敏感性测量包括压力痛阈、热/冷痛阈和阈上热痛反应。在颈椎和一个较远部位，即胫骨前肌，对疼痛指标进行评估。
与对照组相比，患有慢性颈部疼痛的老年人在C5-C6关节突上的压力痛阈较低，在颈椎和胫骨前肌上的冷痛阈降低（p < 0.05）。两组在热痛阈和阈上热痛反应方面没有差异（p > 0.05）。
患有慢性颈部疼痛的老年女性中疼痛超敏反应的存在似乎取决于疼痛刺激的类型。这可能反映了随着年龄增长外周和中枢神经系统的变化。
