Migrainous corpalgia: body pain and allodynia associated with migraine attacks

Cephalic and extracephalic allodynia are recognized as a common sign of sensory sensitization during migraine episodes. However, the occurrence of body pain in migraine has not been thoroughly explored. Here we report three patients presenting with spontaneous body pain in association with migraine attacks. A 41-year-old woman experienced face and limb pain along with migraine headaches; it started before, during or after headache, was usually ipsilateral to head pain, and could last from minutes to days. A 39-year-old woman had pain in her right limbs, back and neck for 30-60 min prior to right-sided migraine headaches. A 30-year-old woman perceived pain in her left upper limb for 24-48 h prior to left-sided migraine headaches. All patients had allodynia to mechanical stimuli over the painful areas. Spontaneous body pain may be associated with migraine attacks. Together with allodynia, this might be a consequence of central sensitization.