Increases in local skin temperature correlate with spontaneous foot lifting and heat hyperalgesia in both incisional inflammatory models of pain.

Our results suggest that a simple measurement of localized skin temperature using a noncontact infrared thermometer could measure the extent of spontaneous pain behaviors and heat hyperalgesia following plantar incision or inflammation in animals. In the absence of a reliable objective marker of pain, these results are encouraging. However, studies are warranted to validate our results using analgesics and pain-relieving interventions, such as nerve block on skin temperature changes.