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Background: Patients often experience pain as a result of a stroke. However, the mechanism of this pain remains uncertain. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) and disability pain in patients with hemiplegic shoulder pain (HSP). Methods : Twenty-six post-stroke patients (age 53.35 ± 13.09 years) and healthy controls (54.35 ± 12.37 years) participated. We investigated spontaneous shoulder pain, disability pain perception through the shoulder pain and disability index (SPADI), and the PPTs over joint C5-C6, upper trapezius, deltoid, epicondyle, second metacarpal, and tibialis anterior, bilaterally., Results: The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences in pain between groups ( p < 0.001) and differences in the SPADI ( p < 0.001) between groups but not between sides for PPTs over deltoid (group: p = 0.007; side: p = 0.750), epicondyle (group: p = 0.001; side: p = 0.848), and tibialis anterior (group: p < 0.001; side: p = 0.932). Pain in the affected arm was negatively associated with PPTs over the affected epicondyle ( p = 0.003) and affected tibialis anterior ( p = 0.009). Pain (SPADI) appeared negatively correlated with PPTs over the affected epicondyle ( p = 0.047), and disability (SPADI) was negatively associated with PPTs over the affected tibialis anterior ( p = 0.041)., Conclusions: Post-stroke patients showed a relationship between widespread pressure pain hypersensitivity with lower PPT levels and pain disability perception, suggesting a central sensitization mediated by bilateral and symmetric pain patterns., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background: The Shoulder Pain Disability Index (SPADI) is a recently published but widely used outcome measure., Methods: This study included 136 patients with shoulder disorders. SPADI was first translated and back-translated and then subjected to psychometric validation. Participants completed the Spanish versions of the SPADI, general health (SF-12), the Simple Shoulder Test (SST), Disability of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaires and a pain intensity visual analog scale (VAS)., Results: The factors explained 62.8 % of the variance, with an internal consistency of α = 0.916 and 0.860, respectively. The confirmatory factor analysis showed a Comparative Fit Index of 0.82 and a Normed Fit Index of 0.80. The Root Mean Square Error of Aproximation was 0.12. The x (2) test for the 2-factor model was significant (x (2) = 185.41, df = 62, p < 0.01). The test-retest reliability was high, with an item ranging of the interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) from 0.89 to 0.93. The ICC for the total score was 0.91 (95 % CI 0.88 to 0.94). Measurement error by minimal detectable change (MDC)95 was 12.2 %. In the construct validity analysis, strong positive correlations were observed between Spanish Version of the SPADI and DASH (pain: r = 0.80; p < 0.01; disability: r = 0.76; p < 0.01). Moderate positive correlations were observed between Spanish Version of the SPADI and VAS (pain: r = 0.67; p < 0.01; disability: r = 0.65; p < 0.01). Moderate negative correlations were obtained between Spanish Version of the SPADI and SST-Sp (pain: r = -0.71; p < 0.01; disability: r = -0.75; p < 0.01). However, pain total Spanish Version of the SPADI was only weakly correlated with physical and mental components of SF-12 (both r = 0.40; p < 0.01)., Conclusions: This Spanish version of SPADI demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in a patient sample in the hospital setting.

Study Design: A case report., Objective: To present two cases of spinal cord infarction (SCI) in carriers of the C677T methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphism., Setting: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, Section for Rehabilitation and Traumatology, Hospital Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, Spain., Methods: Two cases are presented, one with SCI at the C7 level American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) A and one at the C5 level (ASIA A). One patient presented an acute onset of tetraplegia and the other a centromedular syndrome. In both cases the patients were carriers of the MTHFR polymorphism, which is a unique risk factor., Results: Increased blood levels of homocysteine related to mutation of the MTHFR gene increase the risk of a thrombotic episode, triggering the development of SCI. These two cases increase the limited number reported in the recent literature regarding MTHFR polymorphism carriers suffering from thrombotic SCI., Conclusion: MTHFR mutation can be considered a risk factor for thrombotic SCI, but it is not the sole risk factor. We propose that a consensus regarding the inclusion of anticoagulation treatment after confirmation of the diagnosis in these patients is needed.