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Updated: Apr 6, 2026
Dynamic Quantitative Sensory Testing to Characterize Central Pain Processing
Published on: February 16, 2017
Reliability of Quantitative Sensory Tests in a Low Back Pain Population
Pascal H Vuilleumier1, José A Biurrun Manresa, Yassine Ghamri
1From the *Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Therapy, Bern University Hospital, Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland; †Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Department of Health Science and Technology, School of Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; and ‡Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Background And Objectives:
Reliability is an essential condition for using quantitative sensory tests (QSTs) in research and clinical practice, but information on reliability in patients with chronic pain is sparse. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of different QST in patients with chronic low back pain.
Methods:
Eighty-nine patients with chronic low back pain participated in 2 identical experimental sessions, separated by at least 7 days. The following parameters were recorded: pressure pain detection and tolerance thresholds at the toe, electrical pain thresholds to single and repeated stimulation, heat pain detection and tolerance thresholds at the arm and leg, cold pain detection threshold at the arm and leg, and conditioned pain modulation using the cold pressor test. Reliability was analyzed using the coefficient of variation, the coefficient of repeatability, and the intraclass correlation coefficient. It was judged as acceptable or not based primarily on the analysis of the coefficient of repeatability.
Results:
The reliability of most tests was acceptable. Exceptions were cold pain detection thresholds at the leg and arm.
Conclusions:
Most QST measurements have acceptable reliability in patients with chronic low back pain.
