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Encyclopedia of Pain pp 49–52Cite as

Allodynia (Clinical, Experimental)

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Synonyms

Touch Evoked Pain; dynamic mechanical hyperalgesia; obsolete: hyperaesthesia

Definition

The term “allodynia” was introduced to describe a puzzling clinical phenomenon; in some patients, gentle touch may induce a pronounced pain sensation (“touch evoked pain”). In the current taxonomy of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), allodynia is defined as: Pain induced by stimuli that are not normally painful.

If taken literally, this definition means that any reduction in pain threshold would be called “allodynia”. According to the IASP taxonomy, increases in pain to suprathreshold stimuli are called “hyperalgesia”. Because the neural mechanisms of sensitizationtypically cause a leftward shift in the stimulus-response-function that encompasses both reduced thresholds and increased suprathreshold responses, these definitions have been controversial ever since their introduction. Moreover, behavioral studies in animals often use withdrawal threshold measures...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

    Rolf-Detlef Treede

Authors
  1. Rolf-Detlef Treede
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physiological Institute, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Robert F. Schmidt

  2. Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA

    William D. Willis

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© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Treede, RD. (2007). Allodynia (Clinical, Experimental). In: Schmidt, R., Willis, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29805-2_153

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29805-2_153

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-43957-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-29805-2

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