VARIATIONS IN CUTANEOUS AND VISCERAL PAIN SENSITIVITY IN NORMAL SUBJECTS 1

Abstract

Two hundred normal subjects, ranging in age from 10 to 85 years, and of various races, were tested for cutaneous pain sensitivity by a modification of the Hardy, Wolff and Goodell apparatus. Visceral sensitivity was tested in 29 of the subjects by balloon distention of the esophagus. Pain perception threshold was determined as a sharp jab sensation; pain reaction threshold as a wincing observed at the outer canthus; and visceral sensitivity, as a sensation of substernal fullness. Negroes and Mediterranean peoples had lower pain perception and pain reaction than did Northern Europeans. Pain sensitivity decreased with age. Mental fatigue and nervous tension, the only other factors found to produce changes in pain sensitivity, produced a fall in perception and reaction thresholds. It is thought that pain reaction may be more important than differences in pain perception in disease (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)