Theory 74/Pain/Threshold lens
Chronic Pain Is a Threshold Shift
The claim
The transition to chronic pain occurs when central sensitisation lowers the threshold below normal input levels, so pain persists without ongoing injury.
01Mechanism
Sensitisation increases gain in the pain pathway; the threshold falls until ordinary signals suffice.
02Prediction
Chronicity should track threshold shift.
03Refutation
Chronicity tracking injury severity would remove sensitisation.