Clinical term
Hyperalgesia
Hyperalgesia is an increased pain response to a normally painful stimulus. In other words, a stimulus that is already painful causes abnormally amplified pain. It is a descriptive clinical term that does not, on its own, designate a mechanism.
Scientific basis
The IASP defines hyperalgesia as an increased pain response to a normally painful stimulus. A distinction is made between primary hyperalgesia, in the injured or inflamed area, which mainly involves sensitization of nociceptors, that is, peripheral mechanisms, and secondary hyperalgesia, in neighboring tissues or beyond the injured area, which is mainly mechanical and involves central mechanisms.
It is observed after an injury or inflammation, in neuropathic pain and in some chronic pain conditions. Opioid-induced hyperalgesia is a distinct pharmacological context. As with allodynia, sensitization can only be inferred indirectly from this manifestation.
Blue Portance / SBNFA™ reading
Hyperalgesia shows that the same load can produce stronger pain depending on the state of the nervous system and the tissues. The pain felt when sitting therefore does not directly measure the intensity of the mechanical stress. This is one of the reasons why SBNFA™ analyzes the conditions of support and their variability, and not just the amount of pressure.
Contribution to the analysis of sitting
A support area that is more painful than expected, or pain that spreads beyond the loaded area, is functional information. Seating analysis does not distinguish primary from secondary hyperalgesia and does not make a diagnosis.
Not to be confused with
Allodynia, pain caused by a normally non-painful stimulus; hyperpathia, an abnormal pain reaction, often explosive or prolonged, particularly to repeated stimuli; opioid-induced hyperalgesia, a specific pharmacological context; central sensitization, a mechanism that can be accompanied by hyperalgesia, without hyperalgesia being proof of it.
Related terms
Allodynia · Central sensitization · Chronic pain · Fibromyalgia · Neuropathic pain
Sources and scope
- IASP: pain terminology (reference definitions)
- Treede et al. (1992): peripheral and central mechanisms of cutaneous hyperalgesia (Progress in Neurobiology)
- Sandkühler (2009): models and mechanisms of hyperalgesia and allodynia (Physiological Reviews)
- Jensen and Finnerup (2014): allodynia and hyperalgesia in neuropathic pain, clinical manifestations and mechanisms (Lancet Neurology)
Established clinical term (IASP). Its presence is not enough to identify a mechanism. This entry does not replace a medical evaluation.
Further reading
- Learn more — Article: Fibromyalgia and Sitting: What If It Became Part of the Solution?
- Go further — Expert guide: How Can Fascia Contribute to Pain?
