THE NATURE OF ARTHRITIS PAIN

A modified version of the McGill Pain Questionnaire in visualanalogue format was used to evaluate the sensory, affectiveand evaluative intensities of pain experienced by 40 patientswith rheumatoid arthritis and 20 patients with degenerativearthritis. The affective component of the pain was found tobe more intense than the sensory component in all patients indicatingthe importance of emotional factors in the pain experience.The sensory aspects of the pain were more complex than the affectiveones reflecting the varied sources and combinations of somaticpathology. There were no significant differences found in theoverall pain experience between rheumatoid and degenerativearthritis. No differences were noted in the evaluative categoryof pain. Overall pain intensity increased with disease durationin both rheumatoid and degenerative arthritis. The relationshipof affective and sensory components of the pain experience didnot alter with duration of disease. KEY WORDS: Arthritis, Pain