[Clinical use of pain measurement techniques]

The increased knowledge about pain has lead to the suggestion of a mechanism-based classification of pain, and hence mechanism-based therapy. The implementation of this classification is unlikely to occur in the near future, but the concept as such emphasises the importance of a better understanding of the origin of pain before treatment is initiated. The basis for developing and applying such an approach in the future is accessibility to pain assessment techniques, which are able to measure and quantify patients' responses to pain. Experimental clinical research includes a number of techniques to assess the excitability of the pain system and the manifestations related to central sensitisation and neuroplasticity. This can now be applied for mechanism-based diagnosis and related targeted treatment. As the new generation analgesics with new sites of action are developed, a mechanisms-based approach could, it is hoped, lead to more rational management of pain in the future.