Background:
Persistent pain is commonly experienced following stroke and has been described as having a significant impact on function and quality of life.

Aim:
To investigate if the body region of pain experienced by stroke survivors differentially impacts specific functions, such as mobility and hand function.

Method:
Stroke survivors were invited to participate in an online study involving a questionnaire related to post-stroke experience of pain, body areas involved and selected domains of the Stroke Impact Scale (SIS). Analysis was performed by comparison of means of groups with persistent pain and no pain. Further analysis was then performed to determine if impact of pain was affected by the region in which pain was experienced.

Results:
Two-hundred-and-fifty-nine stroke participants completed the survey. One-hundred-and-seventy (66%) reported experiencing persistent pain (>3 months). Of these, 104 (61%) reported that they experienced upper-limb pain; including 76 (45%) with shoulder pain and 62 (36%) with hand pain. Stroke survivors with persistent pain reported significantly lower scores for each measured domain of the SIS. There was no difference in impact, measured using each domain of the SIS, between those with upper-limb pain and those with pain excluding the upper-limb.

Conclusion:
Our findings are consistent with and extend previous reports of the impact of pain following stroke and that upper-limb pain, particularly shoulder pain, is most commonly experienced among stroke participants with persistent pain. Further, they suggest that it may be the experience of persistent pain itself that has an overall impact, rather than specific pain location.

The impact of pain post-stroke is not differentially associated with body region.