ArticlePain reports2018
No evidence of widespread mechanical pressure hyperalgesia after experimentally induced central sensitization through skin nociceptors.
Article in Pain reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Human surrogate models of central sensitization: A critical review and practical guide.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2021Pooled it
- Distress is positively associated with induced secondary hyperalgesia in people with suppressed HIV.The journal of pain · 2026Article
- Distress is positively associated with induced secondary hyperalgesia in people with suppressed HIV.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Perceptual correlates of homosynaptic long-term potentiation in human nociceptive pathways: a replication study.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAn increasing number of clinical studies involving a range of chronic pain conditions report widespread mechanical pressure pain hypersensitivity, which is commonly interpreted as resulting from central sensitization (CS). Secondary hyperalgesia (increased pinprick sensitivity surrounding the site of injury) is considered to be a manifestation of CS. However, it has not been rigorously tested whether CS induced by peripheral nociceptive input involves widespread mechanical pressure pain hypersensitivity.
objectivesThe aim of this study was to assess whether high-frequency electrical stimulation (HFS), which induces a robust secondary hyperalgesia, also induces a widespread decrease of pressure pain thresholds (PPTs).
methodsWe measured PPTs bilaterally on the temples (temporalis muscles), on the legs (tibialis anterior muscles), and on the ventral forearm (flexor carpi radialis muscles) before, 20 minutes after, and 45 minutes after applying HFS on the ventral forearm of sixteen healthy young volunteers. To evaluate the presence of secondary hyperalgesia, mechanical pinprick sensitivity was assessed on the skin surrounding the site where HFS was applied and also on the contralateral arm.
resultsHFS induced a significant increase in mechanical pinprick sensitivity on the HFS-treated arm. However, HFS did not decrease PPTs neither in the area of increased pinprick sensitivity nor at more distant sites.
conclusionThis study provides no evidence for the hypothesis that CS, induced after intense activation of skin nociceptors, involves a widespread decrease of PPTs.
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