Sensory and Motor Manifestations of Muscle Pain

Abstract

Objectives: Evidently, hyperalgesia, referred pain, and motor manifestations play an important role in chronic musculoskeletal pain. Better understanding of the involved basic mechanisms and better methods to assess muscle pain mechanisms in the clinic might provide new possibilities for designing rational therapies and for targeting the intervention optimally.

Findings: Reliable methods for quantitative induction and assessment of muscle pain, referred pain, muscle hyperalgesia, and temporal summation are available. The functional effects of muscle pain can efficiently be assessed by investigating the effect of experimental muscle pain on motor control strategies.

Conclusions: These assessment procedures can provide complementary clinical information and clarify potential involvement of peripheral and central sensitization in musculoskeletal pain. Moreover, quantitative methods show a functional adaptation of the muscle coordination and strategy in muscle pain conditions, and treatment strategies ought to incorporate these findings.

KEYWORDS:

• Experimental muscle pain
• hyperalgesia
• referred pain
• temporal summation
• sensory-motor interaction
• motor control