Detection of heat and cold pain thresholds: an intra and inter rater reliability study

Purpose: It is estimated that 28 million people experience long term pain in the UK, with this number predicted to increase. A mechanistic approach to assessing both acute and long-term pain may optimise outcomes through enabling personalised management. Quantitative sensory testing (QST) through a range of modalities (pressure, thermal, vibration, and temporal summation) has been used to characterise patient populations (e.g. whiplash and osteoarthritis) and predict outcomes. Whilst reliability studies have shown adequate to good reliability (intra and inter rater) of QST measures, few have evaluated both intra and inter-rater reliability and many are of poor methodological quality.
Source: Physiotherapy - Category: Physiotherapy Authors: Tags: O0036 Source Type: research