Pain threshold

Pain threshold is the minimum stimulus intensity at which a person first experiences pain. It varies with stimulus type, body site, and individual state.

Nociception: The neural detection and processing of potentially tissue-damaging stimuli. Nociception can occur without conscious pain, so it is not identical to reaching a pain threshold.
Nociceptor: A sensory neuron that responds to potentially tissue-damaging mechanical, thermal, or chemical stimuli. Nociceptors provide peripheral signals that can contribute to reaching a threshold.
Pressure pain threshold: The minimum pressure that a person reports as painful. It is a specific threshold measure used to assess sensitivity to mechanical pressure.
Central sensitization: Increased responsiveness of central nervous system neurons to normal or subthreshold sensory input. It can lower pain thresholds by amplifying incoming signals.
Pain: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage. Pain is the experience whose onset the threshold marks.
Action potential: A rapid electrical signal that propagates along an excitable cell membrane. Nociceptor activity is transmitted toward the spinal cord through action potentials.
Thermal threshold testing: Measurement of the temperature at which warmth, cold, or heat first becomes painful. It estimates pain onset for controlled temperature stimuli.
Hyperalgesia: An increased pain response to a stimulus that normally causes pain. It concerns heightened responses above threshold and can accompany lowered thresholds.
Pain tolerance: The greatest pain intensity or duration a person is willing or able to endure. Tolerance concerns how much pain is endured, not when pain first begins.
Dorsal horn: The rear region of spinal cord gray matter where many sensory signals are processed. Pain-related signals are relayed and modified here before ascending to the brain.

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