A preliminary study of the features of pressure pain threshold in healthy people

Objective:To characterize the pressure pain threshold(PPT)in healthy Chinese.Method:A total of 37 healthy subjects were recruited and PPT measurements were taken at 12 sites symmetrically distributed on both sides of the body using a hand-held pressure algometer by one rater.These sites were at different tissues such as apophyses and muscles.Three measures of PPT were taken at each site and the mean values were calculated for statistically analyzing the differences among individuals and different sites.Result:The inter-individual differences were significant(P0.05) and females exhibited lower PPT at every site than males(P0.05).PPT varied among different sites on one side(P0.05),but not different between the antimere sites of bilateral sides(P0.05).PPT value obtained from the paraspinal muscle was higher and that from the apophyses was lower than those at the other sites.Conclusion:On the individual level,due to the considerable variation found in the PPT results,cautions must be advised both in selecting the reference points and interpreting the results when using it as a method for clinical pain assessment.Analyzing the factors influencing the PPT measurements and establishing the normal range of PPT in Chinese needs further study.