Site of pain: relationship to measures of pain description, behavior and personality.

Recent research has focused on identification of clinically meaningful subgroupings within the chronic pain population in contrast to prior emphasis on the homogeneity of these patients. The present study investigates site of pain as a potentially useful classification variable for identification of differences among chronic pain patients. In the study 92 patients presenting to a multidisciplinary pain clinic with chronic, benign pain were categorized as to site of pain (head/neck, low back, neither, both). Patients completed self-report scales assessing various activity abilities and health behaviors, a measure of pain description (McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), health related measures of personality (Illness Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) and health beliefs (Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC). One-way ANOVAs revealed significant differences as a function of pain site on a number of behavioral variables (downtime, walking, recreational and social abilities), pain description (MPQ--number of words chosen, total sum of ranks, sensory and affective) and psychological variables (IBQ--disease conviction, psychologic vs. somatic perception of illness and MHLC--internality). These results suggest site of pain to be of significance in the elaboration of behavioral and psychological response to chronic pain and implications for treatment are discussed.