ABSTRACT The excessive and continuous contacting pressure tends to cause skin injury and pain when the lower limb contacting with prosthetic liners. To relate the subcutaneous pressure and the brain response induced by pain sensations, a mathematical model was established based on the finite element model, Hodgkin–Huxley model and GCT model. The results showed that stronger subcutaneous pressure stimulation can lead to higher frequency of the membrane potential and T‐cell potential. The frontal, prefrontal cortex, primary somatosensory cortex and occipital lobe were involved in the processing of pressure pain. A significant increase was observed in γ oscillations in pain states compared with no pain, but no significant differences in different pain level, indicating mathematical model and EEG methods can distinguish the pain but cannot distinguish the pain intensities when the stimulation exceeded the pain threshold. Compared with silicone materials, a higher T‐cell potential and a lower pressure pain threshold were observed as the skin contacted with foam materials, suggesting that the foam materials can induce more severe pain on the skin surface. This study is helpful to understand the mechanisms of pain from skin surface to brain response and to provide theoretical guidance for the optimal design of lower limb prostheses.
Xia et al. (Thu,) studied this question.