Quantitative evaluation of pain by analyzing non-invasively obtained physiological data with particular reference to joint healing with continuous passive motion

Quantitative evaluation of pain sensation is essentially difficult, because it is very subjective and be full of individual difference. However, it is true that various physiological data, obtained non-invasively from the body surface, includes the influence of the pain in various ways. In this study, the author developed an experimental system, that can measure non-invasively various physiological data, which may be related to pain, under the condition of imposing reproducible pain stimulation. By using this system, some series of experiments were done on normal subject. The aim of this study is to establish the practical way of quantitative evaluation of pain sensation including the individual difference to some degree, by processing the data obtained from the experiments, and to make clear how to design a pain measuring apparatus that can be applied in orthopedic treatments.