Author(s)

Derrick G. Sueki^1*, Kim Dunleavy², Emilio J. Puentedura³, Lindsey Heard⁴, Peter Van der Heide⁵, Ming-Shun Cheng⁶

¹Department of Physical Therapy, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, USA.
²Department of Physical Therapy, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
³Department of Physical Therapy, Baylor University, Waco, USA.
⁴Scripps Memorial Hospital, Encinitas, USA.
⁵Amigo Baby, Oxnard, USA.
⁶Department of Physical Therapy, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, USA.

Purpose: Memory has been identified as an important protective feature to prevent future injury, but its role has yet to be ascertained. The current study aimed to determine whether there was a difference in pressure pain threshold (PPT) responses between participants with a prior history of injury of lower extremity injury (PSI) and those without (NPSI) when exposed to 1) experimental mechanical pain, 2) short-term memory recall of a painful stimulus, or 3) long-term memory of the pain associated with a prior injury. Subjects and Methods: The study used a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design. A convenience sample of 59 pain-free participants was recruited from an urban university. Twenty-nine PSI and 30 NPSI were stratified into two groups based on their injury history with PPT values measured at baseline and immediately following each of the three experimental conditions. A repeated measure ANCOVA analysis was conducted for each condition to determine whether there was a difference in PPT responses between the two groups. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in PPT values between the two groups when exposed to experimental pain, F(1,57) = 6.010, p = 0.017, partial η² = 0.095 and with long-term pain memory, F(1,57) = 4.886, p = 0.031, partial η² = 0.079. There was no statistically significant difference between groups with short-term pain memory, F(1,57) = 3.925, p = 0.052, partial η² = 0.064. Conclusions: These findings suggest that pain processing may be altered by pain memory, highlighting the role of experience and memory in the rehabilitation process.

Pain Memory, Nociception, Pressure Pain Threshold, Pain Perception, Pain Learning

Sueki, D. , Dunleavy, K. , Puentedura, E. , Heard, L. , Heide, P. and Cheng, M. (2022) The Differing Effects of Nociception and Pain Memory on Pain Thresholds in Participants with and without a History of Injury: A Pretest-Posttest Quasi Experimental Study. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 12, 359-379. doi: 10.4236/jbbs.2022.128021.