title: Pain thresholds and tenderness in neck and head following acute whiplash injury: a prospective study.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. Helge@akhphd.au.dk
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kasch
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stengaard-Pedersen
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Arendt-Nielsen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Staehelin Jensen
mesh_terms: 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*