• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.413-419
• /
• 2007

The aims of this study were to investigate the relationships among several types of thermal pain thresholds, and pressure pain thresholds. This study was designed to examine whether there were associations among different types of pain thresholds, and among different recording sites for each pain threshold measurement. Pain sensitivity thresholds including cold pain threshold (CPT), heat pain threshold (HPT), heat pain tolerance threshold (PTT), and pressure pain threshold (PPT) of 56 subjects with symptoms of temporomandibular disorders were measured on temporal muscle, masseter muscle, TMJ, and tibial areas. Thermal pain thresholds including CPT, HPT, and PTT did not show any gender differences. However, women showed significantly lower PPTs than men on all recording sites. Three thermal pain thresholds including CPT, HPT, and PTT showed weak to high correlations on all the recording sites (r= 0.324 to 0.754, p<0.05). PPTs did not show any significant correlations between each thermal pain threshold. The pain threshold of each recording site showed weak to high correlations in all pain threshold measures (r= 0.284 to 0.878, p<0.05). Our study demonstrated that thermal pain thresholds, and pain tolerance thresholds were significantly correlated, but did not show any correlation between thermal pain thresholds and pressure pain thresholds. There were relatively high correlations among the pain thresholds of different recording sites.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.22-31
• /
• 2001

Objective : This study is designed to evaluate the correlation between the data of DITI (Digital Infrared Thermographic Imaging) and the clinical symptoms in the patients with low back pain. Methods : Among the outpatients with back pain who visited to Department of Acupunture & Moxibustion, Tae gu Oriental Hopital of Kyung San University from January 2000 to August, we selected 115 cases that examined DITI. We evaluated the correlation between the data of DITI examination and the clinical symptoms (Distribution of Sex and Age, Duration of Disease, Main Sign, Grade of Clinical Symptoms, Diagnosis according to Symptoms(辨證),) in the patients with low back pain. Results & Conclusion : 1. The thermal changes in terms of the duration of disease : The acutest period has the highest thermal change. Also, the longer the duration of disease was, the higher the termal change was. It increased in the order of the acutest period, the less acute period, and the the chronical period. 2. Thermal changes due to the main symptom : The degree of thermal change was as follows (from the highest to the lowest): first, back and knee pain, second, back and leg pain, third, back and buttock pain, fourth, numbness of leg, and fifth, back and dorsum pain. 3. Thermal changes in terms of the grade of clinical symptoms : The more servious the symptoms were, the higher the thermal change was. It was increased in the order of Gr 1, Gr 2, Gr 3, and Gr 4. 4. Thermal changes depdning on symptoms diagnosis : Chwaseom(挫閃) has the highest temperature, $0.87{\pm}0.49^{\circ}C$. 5. Thermal changes before and after treatment : Before treatment, the average thermal change was $0.83^{\circ}C$ but after treatment, it was decreased to $0.38^{\circ}C$. For the above symptoms, if DITI is used, the diagnosis is easier based on the medical history of the patient who has back pain, and the degree of pain. However, if thermal change is soly used for diagnosis, it will be hard to determine the nature of sickness. Therefore, it should be folllowed by other supplementary examination.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.477-487
• /
• 1995

The purpose of this study was to assess the thermographic differences of craniomandibular area between normal individual and patients with craniomandibular disorders and to compare the differences between clinical and thermographical assessment. The author had used 50 subjects as materials for this study, which was divided into 2 groups (first group included 15 healthy subjects and second group included 35 patients) with craiomandibular disorders; 17 subjects had normal disc-condyle relationship, 13 subjects had disc displacement with reduction and 5 subjects had disc displacement without reduction. Agema 870 thermovision(D.I.T.I.) was used to take thermographs with $0.1^{\circ}C$ difference of gradual temperature shift. The results were as follows : 1. Of 34 patients with craniofacial pain, 15(44%) subjects showed hyperthermia on the pain site in the thermography, 8(23.5%)exhibited hyperthermia on the site opposed to the pain site, and 11(32.4%) did not show any significant thermal change. One patient without craniofacial pain showed hyperthermia on the site opposed to the site of disc displacement without reductin. 2. Of 35 patients with craniofacial pain or disc displacement, 24(68.6%) subjects showed a significant thermal difference between symptomatic and asymptomatic sides of the face, but 11(31.4%) did not show any difference. 3. Of 17 patients with pain but with normal disc-condyle relationship, 8(47.1 subjects showed hyperthermia on the pain site, 4(23.5%) showed on the site opposed to the pain site, and 5(29.4%) did not show any significant thermal change. 4. Or 13 patients with pain and disc displacement with reduction, 6(46.2%) subjects showed hyperthermia on the pain site, 3(23.1%) showed on the site opposed to the pain site, and 4(30.8%) did not show any significant thermal change. 5. 15 healthy subjects did not show any thermal differences between the both sides of the face.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.223-233
• /
• 2004

Objective: As a manual accupucture method, the twirling-needle treatment has been known more effective in relieving pain than the conventional simple accupuncture treatment. Finding a proper treatment condition is difficult because of the lack of a quantative measurement of the alleviation of pain made by acupuncture. In this research, the authors propose the use of infrared thermal images in a formalin test to quantatively verify the effect of twirling. Methods: After injecting 10%~20% formalin into the tail of rats, the infrared thermal images(ITI) have been obtained to estimate the thermal distribution caused by inflammation. The authors propose a processing method to measure the thermal distribution from the thermal images obtained from the infrared camera as a pain model of the formalin test. Results: The pain model obtained from the infrared thermal image has two phases. The first phase, which is a transient period, is the initial 20 minutes when the pain is developed after the formalin injection. The second phase, which is a steady state, is where the development of pain lasts for 60 minutes or more after the first stage. This characteristic of the proposed model based on ITI is consistent with that of the pain model reported by other researchers whose works are based on the time-course of flinching and licking/biting, following a different concentration of formalin. It is noticed that the response of the thermal distribution obtained from ITI shows very high correlation to the behavioral response in the formalin test performed by Kazuhiro Okuda and four others5). In addition, the authors propose an ITI method to determine the pain-reducing effect of the acupuncture. The thermal distribution obtained from the experiment shows that there is significant pain reducing effect made by the twirling-needle method.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.317-325
• /
• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of pre-warming on body temperature, anxiety, pain, and thermal comfort. Methods: Forty patients who were scheduled for abdominal surgery were recruited as study participants and were assigned to the experimental or control group. For the experimental group, a forced air warmer was applied for 45-90 min (M=68.25, SD=15.50) before surgery. Body temperature and anxiety were measured before and after the experiment, but pain and thermal comfort were assessed only after the surgery. Hypotheses were tested using t-test and repeated measured ANOVA. Results: The experimental group showed higher body temperature than the control group from right before induction to two hours after surgery. Post-operative anxiety and pain in the experimental group were less than those of the control group. In addition, the score of thermal comfort was significantly higher in the experiment group. Conclusion: Pre-warming is effective in maintaining body temperature, lowering sensitivity to pain and anxiety, and promoting thermal comfort. Therefore, pre-warming can be recommended as a preoperative nursing intervention.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.72-76
• /
• 2014

A 57-year-old male patient had myeloma. He had severe pain in the left clavicle that did not respond to radiotherapy; therefore, it was treated with radiofrequency thermal ablation (RFTA). Under fluoroscopic guidance, two RF needles at a distance of 1.5 cm from each other were inserted into the mass and conventional radiofrequency ($90^{\circ}C$ and 60 seconds) at two different depths (1 cm apart) was applied. Then, 2 ml of 0.5% ropivacaine along with triamcinolone 40 mg was injected in each needle. The visual analogue pain score (VAS from 0 to 10) was decreased from 8 to 0. In the next 3 months of follow-up, the patient was very satisfied with the procedure and the mass gradually became smaller. There were no complications. This study shows that RFTA could be a useful method for pain management in painful osteolytic myeloma lesions in the clavicle

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.25-34
• /
• 2006

Purpose: This study conducted quantitative sensory test and nociceptive flexion reflex(NFR) measurement to examine degree of pain depending on polarity of high voltage pulsed current(HVPC) of hyperalgesia site in hyperalgesia rat by local thermal injury. mechanical pain threshold, thermal pain threshold and root mean square of NFR were measured. Methods: This study was conducted with control group I of hyperalgesia rat at hind paw by thermal injury and experimental groups divided into cathodal HVPC group II, anodal HVPC group III and alternate HVPC group IV. It measured pain threshold and root mean square(RMS) of NFR and obtained the following results. Results: Mechanical pain threshold of hyperalgeisa site was significantly increased at groups II, III and IV applying HVPC group compared to control group, but there was no difference among HVPC groups. Thermal pain threshold of hyperalgesia site showed a significant increase in group II. Group III showed significant difference after 4 days of hyperalgesia. RMS of NFR at hyperalgeisa site was significantly reduced in group II after 2 days of hyperalgesia. Group III showed significant decrease after 5 and 6 days of hyperalgesia. Conclusion: Consequently it was found that application of HVPC of hyperalgesia site increased pain threshold at hyperalgesia site by mechanical stimuli and thermal stimuli. NFR by electrical stimuli was similar to pain threshold by mechanical stimuli. Effects by polarity of HVPC showed the greatest reduction of hyperalgesia when cathodal electrode was used.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.137-141
• /
• 2006

Background: It has been known that melatonin is involved in the modulation of nociceptive transmission. However, the effect of melatonin administered spinally has not been examined. Therefore, we examined the effect of melatonin on the formalin-induced or thermal-induced nociception at the spinal level. Methods: Intrathecal catheter was inserted into the subarachnoid space of male Sprague-Dawley rats. Pain was assessed by formalin test (induced by injection of $50{\mu}l$ of a 5% formalin solution to the hindpaw) or Hot-Box test (induced by radiant heat application to the hindpaw). The effect of intrathecal melatonin was examined on flinching behavior in the formalin test or withdrawal response in Hot-Box test. Results: Intrathecal melatonin produced a limited, but dose-dependent reduction of the flinching response during phase 1 and 2 in the formalin test. In addition, melatonin delivered at evening also decreased the flinching response in both phases of the formalin test. Melatonin restrictively increased the withdrawal latency in Hot-Box test. Conclusions: These results suggest that melatonin is active against the formalin- and thermal-induced nocicpetion at the spinal level, but the effect is limited.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.82-90
• /
• 2004

Background: Gabapentin is widely used for the relief of neuropathic pain. But, there is no study of gabapentin in relation to traumatic neuropathic pain. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy and effectiveness of gabapentin for the various clinical symptoms of traumatic neuropathic pain Materials and Methods: 50 patients with traumatic nerve injury were assigned to receive gabapentin, titrated to 900 mg/day over 9 days, followed by further increases to a maximum of 2400 mg/day. Continuous pain, paroxysmal pain, allodynia and thermal evoked pain were measured in mean daily pain scores, based on the 11-point Likert scale. The primary efficacy parameter was compared from the baseline to the final study week. Results: Over the 4.5 week study, this pain score decreased by 2.6 points in the continuous pain, 3.6 points in the paroxysmal pain, 3.1 points in the allodynia, and 2.5 points in the thermal evoked pain. The percentage of patients with over 50% improvement in pain scores was 33% in the continuous pain, 67% in the paroxysmal pain, 53% in the allodynia and 36% in the thermal evoked pain. There was no significant correlation between the effect of gabapentin and the time difference of the onset of symptoms and start of medication. Conclusions: This study shows that gabapentin reduced neuropathic pain in patients with traumatic peripheral nerve injury. Among the various characteristics of neuropathic pain, the reduction of paroxysmal pain and allodynia was greatest.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.11 no.7
• /
• pp.361-368
• /
• 2020

This study aims to examine whether the use of a spinal column thermal massage device for patients with muscle pain is effective in improving muscle pain, and to verify whether it is also effective in improving affective depression and stress. To this end, 16 study participants (male 31.25%) were treated with a thermal massage device during 5 sessions a week for 4 weeks and 40 minutes per session. According to the study results, the subjective pain level changed by a rate of VAS -46.32% and PDI -44.86%; a significant decrease was observed in, both, VAS and PDI. The depression and stress levels changed by a rate of BDI -21.84% and SRI -11.48%; a significant decrease was observed in, both, BDI and SRI. Therefore, the use of a thermal massage device to treat patients with muscle pain is expected to have a positive effect in improving not only subjective muscle pain, but also depression and stress.