Title |
Central sensitization: a biopsychosocial explanation for chronic widespread pain in patients with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome
|
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Published in |
Clinical Rheumatology, November 2006
|
DOI | 10.1007/s10067-006-0433-9 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Mira Meeus, Jo Nijs |
Abstract |
In addition to the debilitating fatigue, the majority of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) experience chronic widespread pain. These pain complaints show the greatest overlap between CFS and fibromyalgia (FM). Although the literature provides evidence for central sensitization as cause for the musculoskeletal pain in FM, in CFS this evidence is currently lacking, despite the observed similarities in both diseases. The knowledge concerning the physiological mechanism of central sensitization, the pathophysiology and the pain processing in FM, and the knowledge on the pathophysiology of CFS lead to the hypothesis that central sensitization is also responsible for the sustaining pain complaints in CFS. This hypothesis is based on the hyperalgesia and allodynia reported in CFS, on the elevated concentrations of nitric oxide presented in the blood of CFS patients, on the typical personality styles seen in CFS and on the brain abnormalities shown on brain images. To examine the present hypothesis more research is required. Further investigations could use similar protocols to those already used in studies on pain in FM like, for example, studies on temporal summation, spatial summation, the role of psychosocial aspects in chronic pain, etc. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 2 | 14% |
Spain | 2 | 14% |
Canada | 1 | 7% |
Chile | 1 | 7% |
United Kingdom | 1 | 7% |
Belgium | 1 | 7% |
Unknown | 6 | 43% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 12 | 86% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | 14% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Australia | 3 | <1% |
Spain | 3 | <1% |
United States | 2 | <1% |
United Kingdom | 2 | <1% |
Ireland | 1 | <1% |
Italy | 1 | <1% |
France | 1 | <1% |
Norway | 1 | <1% |
Czechia | 1 | <1% |
Other | 6 | <1% |
Unknown | 663 | 97% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 112 | 16% |
Student > Bachelor | 88 | 13% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 82 | 12% |
Researcher | 73 | 11% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 61 | 9% |
Other | 163 | 24% |
Unknown | 105 | 15% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Medicine and Dentistry | 233 | 34% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 110 | 16% |
Psychology | 74 | 11% |
Neuroscience | 26 | 4% |
Sports and Recreations | 24 | 4% |
Other | 84 | 12% |
Unknown | 133 | 19% |