[Psychosomatic pain in children--a psychomuscular stress reaction?]

Recurrent psychosomatic pain is a common paediatric problem. Our knowledge in this respect remains incomplete, and there is a manifest need of research in this field. A model of a psychosomatic process with pain as an important symptom is presented in the article, where the hypothalamus and the muscular system are important components. The nociceptive progress has its origin in muscular tension, and is regulated and modified in the central nervous system. Both local and central sensitisation is assumed to be crucially involved in the pain process. The importance of excluding the possibility of organic disease is emphasised, and some guidelines for diagnosis and treatment are given.