Table 1 Neurophysiology of pain questionnaire (NPQ)¹⁷.

1 Receptors on nerves work by opening ion channels in the wall of the nerve

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2 When part of your body is injured, special pain receptors convey the pain message to your brain

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3 Pain only occurs when you are injured

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4 The timing and intensity of pain matches the timing and number of signals in nociceptors

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5 Nerves have to connect a body part to your brain in order for that body part to be in pain

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6 In chronic pain, the central nervous system becomes more sensitive to nociception

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7 The body tells the brain when it is in pain

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8 The brain sends messages down your spinal cord that can increase the nociception going up your spinal cord

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9 The brain decides when you will experience pain

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10 Nerves adapt by increasing their resting level of excitement

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11 Chronic pain means that an injury hasn’t healed properly

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12 Nerves can adapt by making more ion channels

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13 Worse injuries always result in worse pain

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14 Nerves adapt by making ion channels (gates) stay open longer

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15 s-order nociceptor (messenger nerve) post-synaptic membrane potential is dependent on descending modulation

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16 When you are injured, the environment that you are in will not have an effect on the amount of pain you experience

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17 It is possible to have pain and not know about it

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18 When you are injured, chemicals in your tissue can make nerves more sensitive

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19 In chronic pain, chemicals associated with stress can directly activate nociception pathways

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