Characteristics
- The size of referred pain is related to the intensity and duration of ongoing/evoked pain.
- Temporal summation is a potent mechanism for generation of referred muscle pain.
- Central hyperexcitability is important for the extent of referred pain.
- Patients with chronic musculoskeletal pains have enlarged referred pain areas to experimental stimuli. The proximal spread of referred muscle pain is seen in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain and very seldom is it seen in healthy individuals.
- Modality-specific somatosensory changes occur in referred areas, which emphasize the importance of using a multimodal sensory test regime for assessment.
Read more about this topic: Referred Pain