The role of the central nervous system in the generation and maintenance of chronic pain in rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia

Table 1 Peripheral and central quantitative sensory testing findings in fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis

	Peripheral findings	Central findings
	Low pain thresholds at affected sites	Low pain thresholds in a widespread distribution	Loss of descending analgesia (conditioned pain modulation)	Temporal summation	Expanded areas of hyperalgesia
Fibromyalgia	X	X	X	X	X
Osteoarthritis	X	X	X	X	X
Rheumatoid arthritis	X	X		X	X

ISSN: 1478-6362