The McGill Pain Questionnaire consists primarily of 3 major classes in word descriptors-sensory, affective and evaluative-and is used in the studies of clinical and experimental pain. The purpose of the study is to analyze characteristics of the central pain in patients with spinal cord injury and to compare with the musculosleletal pain using McGill Pain Questionnaire(MPQ) Korean version.

The subjects of this study were ninety-nine patients with spinal cord injury who were admitted to Ajou University Hospital or registered with other social agencies, and thirty patients with musculoskeletal pain who were treated at the rehabilitation medicine out patient clinic of Ajou University Hospital. Central pain had significantly higher sensory, miscellaneous and total scores of MPQ Korean version than the musculoskeletal pain. There were no correlations between visual analogue scale and each dimension of MPQ Korean version except evaluative dimension in central pain. Central pain had significantly higher scores than musculoskeletal pain in subclasses such as spatial, punctate, incisive, thermal and coldness. The most frequently chosen words were "radiating"(46%) in central pain and "throbbing"(32%) in musculoskeletal pain of all subjects.

In conclusion, the central pain has no difference in pain intensity but shows bizzare and diverse character compared with the musculoskeletal pain. Authors suggest that MPQ Korean version can be an useful measuring tool for the evaluation and the follow up of the central pain of spinal origin.