THE INFLUENCE OF SITE OF STIMULATION, AGE, AND GENDER ON PAIN THRESHOLD IN HEALTHY-CHILDREN

Background and Purpose. Factors influencing mechanical pain thresholds (MPThs) in children are not understood. Reports conflict on whether M PThs increase with age. The purposes of this study were to determine w hether MPTh values change with age in children and to investigate the influence of the site of stimulation and gender. Subjects. Sixty-nine children of both genders, aged 6 to 17 years, were divided into two ag e groups: 6 to 11 years and 12 to 17 years. Methods. Mechanical pain t hresholds were determined by applying pressure three times on both sid es of the body at the elbow, wrist, knee, and ankle and paraspinally a t C-6, T-1, T-3, T-6, T-10, L-1, L-3, and L-5. The influence of body s ite, gender, and age on MPThs was analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance. The relationship between MPThs at different sites was analy zed by correlations and factor analysis. Results. There was a trend fo r the paraspinal MPThs to be greater the more caudally they were locat ed. The MPThs increased with age in the paraspinal region, but they di d not increase with age at the extremities. The MPThs of the male subj ects did not differ from those of the female subjects. Conclusion and Discussion. Measurements of MPTh can be reproducibly performed in chil dren. The level of MPThs is reliant an age and body site. In MPTh stud ies in children, age- and site-matched controls seem to be more releva nt than gender-matched controls.