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. 2024 May 25:17:1917-1927.
doi: 10.2147/JPR.S456551. eCollection 2024.

Test-Retest Reliability of Pain Sensitivity Measures in Individuals with Shoulder Pain

Rani Othman  1 , Abdulrahman Mohammed Bajaber  1 , Anas Mohammed Alhabshi  1 , Majed Albadi  1 , Rawan Aldhabi  1 , Muataz Almaddah  1 , Abdullah Alqarni  1
Affiliations

Test-Retest Reliability of Pain Sensitivity Measures in Individuals with Shoulder Pain

Rani Othman et al. J Pain Res. .

Abstract

Background: Central sensitization (CS) has been proposed as a possible contributor to persistent shoulder pain. Measures of sensitivity, such as quantitative sensory tests (QSTs) and sensitivity to movements evoked pain (SMEP), have been increasingly used to investigate CS in a wide range of painful conditions. However, there is a lack of data on whether QST and SMEP are reliable among individuals with shoulder pain. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the intra-rater test-retest reliability of QST and SMEP in individuals with chronic shoulder pain.

Materials and methods: Forty-seven individuals with chronic shoulder pain were enrolled in the study. The QST measures, including pressure pain threshold (PPT) and mechanical temporal summation (MTS), were tested, and SMEP was measured with a lifting task. Relative and absolute reliability were analyzed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC 3,1) and standard error of the measurement (SEM), respectively.

Results: The results showed that the ICC coefficients for all sensitivity measures were moderate to good, ranging from 0.63 to 0.86. The SEM% for the QST measures at all sites ranged from 21.4% to 36%, with TS at the forearm demonstrating a high SEM% (greater than 30%). The SMEP measure also showed a high SEM% (46%).

Conclusion: The results showed that the sensitivity measures had moderate to good reliability among individuals with shoulder pain. Acceptable limits of accuracy of measurements were demonstrated for TS and PPT measures, while SMEP demonstrated high error, highlighting the need for further refinement of this measure among these populations.

Keywords: central sensitization; quantitative sensory testing; reliability; sensitive to movement evoked pain; shoulder pain.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare for this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PPT test using a handheld algometer at the affected side.
Figure 2
Figure 2
TS test using Von Frey filament at the affected side and contralateral forearm.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Flow chart of recruitment and screening process.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Bland-Altman plots for test–retest agreement.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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