The Reliability of the Pressure Algometer

The pressure algometer is a simple clinical instrument which has been used to measure the response to pressure pain in normal subjects. The point at which subjects first said they felt pain was called the Verbal Report of Pain (VRP). The point at which they said the pressure 'hurt a lot' was called the Pain Reaction Point (PRP). Both points were significantly lower in women than in men, but there was no significant difference between white male medical students, Afro‐Asian male medical students and white male student teachers. The method was shown to have a moderate degree of consistency and reliability when used independently by two observers. The VRP and PRP were highly correlated with each other, suggesting that both were a measure of the same tendency.