Background and objective:~Recent findings suggest that pain can play an important role in terms of physical activity limitation in respiratory patients. Nevertheless, pain mechanisms and their clinical impact in patients with bronchiectasis have not been investigated yet. The objective of the observational study is to determine the somatosensorial profile in order to assess the presence of central pain mechanisms in patients with bronchiectasis.~Methodology:~Repeated-measures prospective cross-sectional study. A sample of patients diagnosed with bronchiectasis will be recruited and matched by age and sex with healthy controls. Pressure pain thresholds (PPTs), conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and referral pain will be assessed before and after the Incremental Shuttle Walking test (ISW). Levels of physical activity will be assessed using accelerometry during a 7-days period. Sleep quality (Pittsburgh sleep quality test), level of catastrophizing (Pain Catastrophizing Scale), level of sensitization (Central Sensitization Inventory) and level of anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression) will be assessed. The assessments will be done twice: 1) at baseline; and 2) at 6 months follow-up period.
Pain mechanisms and their clinical impact in patients with bronchiectasis have not been investigated yet. The aim of the research is to assess the presence of central pain mechanisms in patients with bronchiectasis using the Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) assumptions.