Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of visible light therapy for the management of somatic pain.

Method: Subjects consisted of 42 patients with pain and were divided into two groups; control (n=22) and experimental (n=20) groups. Control group received conventional physical therapy only, while experimental group received additional light therapy with blue light (light intensity 4080 lux, wave length 581 nm, distance from lamp 5 cm). Intensity of pain was assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS) and McGill pain questionnaire. Sympathetic skin response was measured to assess the status of autonomic nervous system. VAS and McGill pain questionnaire were administered before treatment and at 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 1 week, and 2 weeks after treatment. Sympathetic skin response were performed before and 2 weeks after treatment.

Results: 1) In both experimental and control groups, VAS became significantly lower at two weeks after treatment compared to pretreatment scale (p＜0.05). 2) McGill pain questionnaire showed significantly lower scores two weeks after treatment compared to pretreatment score, only in experimental group (p＜0.05). 3) Experimental group showed significantly lower McGill pain questionnaire score than control group at two weeks after treatment (p＜0.05). 4) Latency and amplitude of sympathetic skin response showed no significant difference between experimental and control groups.

Conclusion: Visible light therapy can be used as an effective therapeutic modality for the management of symptomatic pain in combination with conventional physical therapy. (J Korean Acad Rehab Med 2002; 26: 81-85)

Objective: To evaluate the effect of compensation or secondary gain on the pain behavior and psychometric characteristics.

Method: We examined 88 patients who complained of chronic low back pain by the various pain questionnaires, electrodiagnostic study and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Total patients were classified into two groups (46 patients who wanted disability evaluation and 42 patients who did not).

Results: Mean score of visual analogue scale, total sum of McGill pain questionnaire and pain rating index on sensory, affective and miscellaneous dimensions were significantly higher in patients related to disability compensation than those in patients without compensation. Mean scores of pain disability index and symptom checklist-90-revision were significantly higher on various subclass in patients with compensation. Various pain scales were significantly correlated to each other in both group but the severity of electrodiagnostic study and MRI findings were not related with the degree of pain index score in both group.

Conclusion: Compensation or secondary gain affect pain behavior and psychometric characteristics in chronic low back patients. So when we evaluate or treat the patients with chronic low back pain, we should consider above results.

The McGill Pain Questionnaire consists primarily of 3 major classes in word descriptors-sensory, affective and evaluative-and is used in the studies of clinical and experimental pain. The purpose of the study is to analyze characteristics of the central pain in patients with spinal cord injury and to compare with the musculosleletal pain using McGill Pain Questionnaire(MPQ) Korean version.

The subjects of this study were ninety-nine patients with spinal cord injury who were admitted to Ajou University Hospital or registered with other social agencies, and thirty patients with musculoskeletal pain who were treated at the rehabilitation medicine out patient clinic of Ajou University Hospital. Central pain had significantly higher sensory, miscellaneous and total scores of MPQ Korean version than the musculoskeletal pain. There were no correlations between visual analogue scale and each dimension of MPQ Korean version except evaluative dimension in central pain. Central pain had significantly higher scores than musculoskeletal pain in subclasses such as spatial, punctate, incisive, thermal and coldness. The most frequently chosen words were "radiating"(46%) in central pain and "throbbing"(32%) in musculoskeletal pain of all subjects.

In conclusion, the central pain has no difference in pain intensity but shows bizzare and diverse character compared with the musculoskeletal pain. Authors suggest that MPQ Korean version can be an useful measuring tool for the evaluation and the follow up of the central pain of spinal origin.