GENERAL AND SEGMENTAL REDUCED PAIN THRESHOLDS IN JUVENILE CHRONIC ARTHRITIS

The objective of this work was to investigate the pattern of pain thre shold (PT) alterations in paraspinal soft tissues as related to inflam ed joints in patients with juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA). A pressur e algometer was used in JCA patients with inflamed knee(s) (n = 16), w ith inflamed anklet(s) (n = 17), and in healthy controls (n = 69), all aged 6-17 years. Local pressure was applied to the joint capsules of the knees and ankles and the soft paraspinal tissues, and PTs were rec orded. JCA patients showed not only a significantly lower PT at the in flamed knee and ankle joints, but also in the non-inflamed paraspinal areas. All paraspinal PTs showed a significant negative correlation wi th the inflamed knee or ankle joint. The correlation rank order showed that the paraspinal L1 area had the highest negative correlation with the inflamed knee joint and the paraspinal L3 area with the inflamed ankle joint. JCA coincides with generally diminished pain thresholds i n the paraspinal region. Nociception from inflamed joints may have est ablished changes in the peripheral as well as central nociceptive proc essing system in JCA.