Journal of Clinical Medicine Research, ISSN 1918-3003 print, 1918-3011 online, Open Access
Article copyright, the authors; Journal compilation copyright, J Clin Med Res and Elmer Press Inc
Journal website http://www.jocmr.org

Original Article

Volume 7, Number 10, October 2015, pages 781-790

A Novel Quantitative Pain Assessment Instrument That Provides Means of Comparing Patient’s Pain Magnitude With a Measurement of Their Pain Tolerance

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1. Photographs of the instrument used for finger impact testing. Notice patient’s index finger in the tube prepared to verbally respond to the experience of the impact’s intensity; 0 to 10 in magnitude. The subject’s eyes are closed so as to isolate the experience to the physical impact of the ball drop. After the ball drop the person removes their finger and ball drops out. Person’s finger is replaced in the tube for the next test. (a) Ball drop from the lowest portal to initiate the testing. (b) Close up of the base with portal for the subject and ball retrieval. (c) Examiner releasing ball drop on subjects finger nail in the instrument.
Figure 2.
Figure 2. Photograph of the 3-feet long tube used for knee patellar impact testing. (a) Examiner is placing the ball at the highest of the three 1-foot openings in the 3-feet tube. The subject’s eyes are closed so as to isolate the experience to the physical impact of the ball drop. All subjects and patients permitted the ball drop at this highest level. There are openings at 1 and 2 feet and the top. (b) Close up of examiner placing ball in top portal.

Table

Table 1. Comparison of Pain Tolerance and Pain Experience Between Groups on Finger Testing
 
VariableAsymptomatic group mean (SD)Symptomatic group mean (SD)P-value
3 = height of 12 inches. The asymptomatic study group reported a significant higher pain tolerance than the patients. However, there was no significant difference in the pain experienced during the finger test between groups (P = 0.97).
Self-reported pain tolerance6.7 (1.5)6.5 (1.7)0.04
Pain experienced during test3.2 (2.2)3.4 (2.6)0.97