Chronic low back pain and the reaction to repeated acute pain stimulation.

Previous research has shown an interaction between chronic and acute pain behavior. Chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients seem to have a higher pain perception threshold and a lower pain tolerance than pain-free controls. The major focus is, however, on another aspect of pain behavior: habituation of the pain response after repeated stimulation. Habituation of the pain perception threshold was found for control subjects but not for CLBP patients. Inability to habituate to pain may be regarded as a risk factor in the development of CLBP.