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Spinal cord injury pain: Spinal and supraspinal mechanisms

Robert P. Yezierski, PhD

Figure. Summary of different injury-induced changes associated with development of at- and below-level pain.

This article reviews the mechanisms responsible for the condition of  altered sensations, including pain, following spinal cord injury (SCI). Sensory and motor function losses at and below the injury level are obvious consequences of spinal injury. Secondary consequences, which include spasticity, bladder and bowel dysfunction, infertility, and pain, rank among the most difficult conditions an individual has to deal with following SCI. Mechanisms responsible for the condition of pain involve pathological, physiological, neurochemical, and molecular events associated with the injured spinal cord. Injury models used to study these events combined with clinical studies that have provided insights into the spinal and supraspinal mechanisms of at- and below-level pain are discussed.


Volume 46 Number 1, 2009
   Pages 95 — 108

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