Epidemiology and Classification of Pain After Spinal Cord Injury

The prevalence of pain after spinal cord injury (SCI) is reported to be between 65% and 80%; 20% to 30% of this pain is severe. The reported variability in prevalence may be due to a number of methodological factors, which include (a) different definitions of pain after SCI, both with regard to specific pain types and abnormal sensations regarded as pain, (b) variable response rates for surveys and inadequate sampling techniques, (c) variable time from injury until pain assessment, and (d) variability in the classification schemes of pain after SCI. In this article, various classification schemes of pain after SCI are reviewed. It may be hypothesized that widespread use of a comprehensive, but easily used, classification system of pain after SCI will enhance communication between physicians, basic researchers, and clinical researchers and will allow better understanding of this clinical problem through interstudy comparisons of both epidemiological and treatment outcome data. The classification system presented here may have certain advantages over other available systems.