Incidence of chronic pain following traumatic brain injury.

OBJECTIVE

To index the frequency of reported chronic pain in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

DESIGN

A case series study was conducted on consecutive patients with TBI.

SETTING

TBI patients were recruited from an adult tertiary care center brain injury clinic.

PATIENTS: A consecutive sample of 132 patients who attended a brain injury rehabilitation center after TBI. The sample included 53 mild and 79 moderate/severe TBI patients.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients were administered a protocol that indexed pain site, frequency, severity, and duration.

RESULTS

Chronic pain was reported by 58% of mild TBI and 52% of moderate/severe TBI patients. Headaches were the most commonly reported pain problem. Chronic headaches were reported by 47% of mild TBI patients and 34% of moderate/ severe TBI patients. Neck/shoulder, back, upper limb, and lower limb pain were reported similarly by mild and moderate/severe TBI patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate that chronic pain is a significant problem in mild and moderate/severe TBI patients. More effective diagnosis of TBI patients with chronic pain may facilitate rehabilitation of these patients.