Pain thresholds and tenderness in neck and head following acute whiplash injury: a prospective study.
OBJECTIVE OF THE INVESTIGATION: In a 6-month prospective study of 141 consecutive acute whiplash-injured participants, and 40 acute, ankle-injured controls, pain and tenderness in the neck/head, and at a distant control site, were measured.


METHODS
Muscle palpation and pressure algometry in five head/neck muscle-pairs were performed after 1 week and 1, 3 and 6 months after injury. Algometry was performed at a distant control site.


RESULTS
Whiplash-injured patients had lowered pressure-pain-detection thresholds and higher palpation-score initially in the neck/head, but the groups were similar after 6 months, and the control site was not sensitized.


CONCLUSIONS
Focal, but not generalized, sensitization to musculoskeletal structure is present until 3 months, but not 6 months, after whiplash injury, and probably does not play a major role in the development of late whiplash syndrome. Pressure algometry and palpation are useful clinical tools in the evaluation of neck and jaw pain in acute whiplash injury.
Kasch
H
H
Department of Neurology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. Helge@akhphd.au.dk
Stengaard-Pedersen
K
K
Arendt-Nielsen
L
L
Staehelin Jensen
T
T
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016512:Ankle Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D020773:Headache Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D014911:Whiplash Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*