Central sensitization represents an enhancement in the function of neurons and circuits in
nociceptive pathways caused by increases in membrane excitability and synaptic efficacy as
well as to reduced inhibition and is a manifestation of the remarkable plasticity of the
somatosensory nervous system in response to activity, inflammation, and neural injury. The
net effect of central sensitization is to recruit previously subthreshold synaptic inputs to
nociceptive neurons, generating an increased or augmented action potential output: a state …