Experimentally induced musculoskeletal pain : a tool for understanding chronic pain

Abstract

Pain is a complex modality which can arise from a plethora of sources, both internal and external, which, under normal physiological conditions, is an essential aspect of life for the identification of injury to an individual. However, in a subset of the population suffering from chronic pain, the distinction between painful and non-painful sensations can become askew, resulting in the formation of allodynia, hyperalgesia and other manifestations of pain-hypersensitivity. Within this thesis, the utilisation and characterisation of both acute and prolonged experimental models of musculoskeletal pain were undertaken to examine the regional distribution and evoked perceptual changes of muscle pain. The examination of the differential response between acute and prolonged pain may aid in the identification of the neural mechanisms which underpin the transition from acute to chronic pain in patients. Across both pain conditions, an ability for normally non-perceptual stimuli to evoke a hyperalgesic response is also reported, which may impact our understanding of clinical chronic pain. Furthermore, the potential of the drug minocycline to reduce somatosensory hypersensitivities associated with prolonged muscle pain was also examined.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English