Pain sensitivity range: a useful parameter to measure experimentally induced pain?

Although the Pain Sensitivity Range (PSR) has been presented as a useful parameter to measure pain in the laboratory, it has not received much attention from pain researchers. The goals of the present investigation were to analyze the reliability and stability of the PSR with the cold pressor test method. Results of our study indicate that useful data can be obtained from this parameter. The PSR is a reliable measure which has not shown any variability due to the cyclic changes in pain perception nor due to the supposedly greater pain sensitivity on the left side of the body. The authors postulate that PSR might be a good measure in laboratory research to evaluate the effectiveness of analgesic therapies, for its resemblance to the acute pain experience.