title: Influence of surface anesthesia on the pressure pain threshold measured with different-sized probes.
abstract: Transcutaneous pressure with pressure probes of arbitrary diameters have been commonly used for measuring the threshold and magnitude of muscle pain, yet this procedure lacks scientific validation. To examine the valid probe dimensions, we conducted physiological experiments using 34 human subjects. Pin-prick pain, pressure pain threshold (PPT) to pressure probes of various diameters, heat pain threshold, and electrical pain threshold of deep tissues were measured before and after application of surface lidocaine anesthesia to the skin surface over the brachioradial muscle in a double-blinded manner. The anesthesia neither affected PPT with larger probes (diameters: 1.6 and 15 mm) nor increased electric pain threshold of deep structures, whereas it diminished pain count in pin-prick test and PPT with a 1.0 mm diameter probe, suggesting that mechanical pain thresholds measured with 1.6 and 15 mm probes reflect the pain threshold of deep tissues, possibly muscle. Pain thresholds to heat did not change after application of the anesthesia. These results suggest that larger pressure probes can give a better estimation of muscular pain threshold.
authors.affiliation: Japan Foundation for Aging and Health, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taguchi
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawakita
authors.forename: Kazue
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mizumura
mesh_terms: D000279:Administration, Cutaneous; D000328:Adult; D000772:Anesthesia, Local; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008012:Lidocaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000187:drug effects*; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000187:drug effects*; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D011312:Pressure; D012867:Skin / Q000294:innervation; D013697:Thermosensing / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D008012:Lidocaine