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Encyclopedia of Pain pp 938–939Cite as

Hypoalgesia, Assessment

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Synonyms

Hypalgia; Assessment of Hypoalgesia

Definition

IASP Taxonomy (Merskey and Bogduk 1994) defines hypoalgesia as “decreased perception of noxious stimuli.” Hypoalgesia could be in response to a wide variety of mechanical stimuli such as pinch, strong pressure or punctuate and to thermal noxious stimuli of heat and cold, basically any physical force of sufficient intensity to disrupt or threaten the integrity or homeostasis of any tissue.

In other terms, hypoalgesia is diminished experience of pain in response to a normally painful stimulus. Hypoesthesia covers the case of diminished sensitivity to stimulation that is normally not painful.

Hypoalgesia is also defined as raised threshold to painful stimuli.

Characteristics

Hypoalgesia is a negative sensory phenomenon seen exclusively in patients with neurological disease or injury, including patients with neuropathic pain(Backonja and Galer 1998; Lindblom and Ochoa 1986; Backonja 2003). Hypoalgesia indicates a decrease or loss of...

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References

  1. Merskey H, Bogduk N (1994) Classification of Chronic Pain, vol 2. IASP Press, Seattle

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  2. Backonja MM, Galer BS (1998) Pain Assessment and Evaluation of Patients who have Neuropathic Pain. Neurol Clin 16:775–790

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  3. Lindblom U, Ochoa J (1986) Somatosensory Function and Dysfunction. In: Asbury AK, McKhann GM, McDonald WI (eds) Diseases of the Nervous System. Clinical Neurobiology. W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, pp 283–298

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  4. Backonja M (2003) Defining Neuropathic Pain. Anesthesia Analgesia 97:785–790

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  5. Greenspan JD (2001) Quantitative Assessment of Neuropathic Pain. Curr Pain Headache Rep 5:107–113

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  6. Dyck PJ, O'Brien PC (2003) Quantitative Sensory Testing: Report of the Therapeutics and Technology Assessment Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neurology 61:1628–1630

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  7. Getz KK, Cook T, Backonja MM (2005) Pain Ratings at the Thresholds are Necessary for Interpretation of Quantitative Sensory Testing. Muscle Nerve 32:179–184

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Misha-Miroslav Backonja

Authors
  1. Misha-Miroslav Backonja
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physiological Institute, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Robert F. Schmidt

  2. Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA

    William D. Willis

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© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Backonja, MM. (2007). Hypoalgesia, Assessment. In: Schmidt, R., Willis, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29805-2_1836

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29805-2_1836

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-43957-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-29805-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine

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