Central sensitisation 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 reduce inhibition and, is a manifestation of the remarkable plasticity of the somatosensory nervous system in response to activity, inflammation, and neural injury.
The pain is no longer coupled, as acute nociceptive pain is, to the presence, intensity, or duration of noxious peripheral stimuli. Instead, central sensitisation produces pain hypersensitivity by changing the sensory response elicited by normal inputs, including those that usually evoke innocuous sensations.