Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Observational
Official Title: Delineating Areas of Secondary Hyperalgesia: Influence of the Assessment Method
Brief Summary:
Assessments of mechanical skin sensitivity include psychophysical responses to stimulation with calibrated polyamide monofilaments.
One of the applications of polyamide monofilaments are the assessments of magnitude of secondary hyperalgesia areas (SHAs), i.e. areas in normal skin near an injury with increased mechanical sensitivity.
The objective of the study is to investigate the hypothesis, based on previous studies, that a light tactile stimulus delineates a larger SHA than stimulation with a more rigid monofilament.
Twenty-three healthy participants were included in this randomized, two-observer, test-retest study.
A highly significant positive correlation between the bending force of the polyamide filaments and the magnitude of SHA was demonstrated. The "weighted-pin" instrument showed significantly and consistently larger areas than the polyamide monofilaments.
The hypothesis was rejected: a light tactile stimulus did not delineate a larger secondary hyperalgesia area than stimulation with a more rigid monofilament. The "weighted-pin" instrument seems an alternative to the conventional polyamide monofilaments.