Relations Among Muscle Pain, Sleep Variables, and Depression

Abstract

Objectives: The relationships among muscle pain, pain threshold, sleep and depression were studied within a group of women in the active work force reporting musculoskeletal pains.

Methods: Female low salary office employees, all [N = 96] reporting muscle pains, answered a sleep questionnaire. A muscle pain index comprising self-reported pain in the neck, back and shoulders/arm was computed. Pain thresholds were measured in muscles of the neck, underarm, leg and thorax, and a pain threshold index was computed. The subjects also answered two depression scales.

Results: A subjective sleep deficit of one hour or more was reported by 60 per cent of the subjects. Nineteen per cent reported difficulty going to sleep.

A high score of muscle pain was related to high subjective sleep need and sleep deficit, and to symptoms of insufficient sleep, like difficulty waking up and tiredness during the day. Muscle pain was not correlated to symptoms of poor sleep, like frequent awakenings, and was negatively correlated to difficulty falling asleep. Regression analyses indicated that the muscle pain was mainly related to the sleep variables, while depression contributed most to pain threshold scores.

Conclusion: The data suggest that women with a high index of subjective muscle pain have insufficient sleep, possibly due to a high need for sleep.

KEYWORDS:

• Subjective muscle pain
• pain threshold
• sleep
• depression