Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the perception of muscle tension in chronic pain patients and healthy controls. Twenty chronic back pain patients, 20 patients who suffered from temporomandibular pain and dysfunction, and 20 healthy controls were instructed to produce eight different levels of muscle contraction in either the m. masseter or the m. erector spinae. Each level was produced three times; trials were presented in random order. Analyses of the accuracy and the sensitivity of discrimination of muscle tension levels revealed that the patients were less able to perceive muscle contraction levels correctly and that they underestimated their actual levels of muscle tension. Patients and controls did not differ in the extent to which they contracted muscles not involved in the task. Patients suffering from musculoskeletal disorders seem to display a genuine deficit in discrimination of muscle tension that is related to neither local physiological changes at the site of pain, lack of motivation, inattention, nor fatigue.
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This research was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (FI 156/1 and FI 156/2) to the first author and a grant from the German Department of Science and Technology (FKZ 0701503) to the third author. The authors are solely responsible for the contents of this publication. The authors would like to thank Barbara Streit, Dr. Karl Schweizer, and Dr. Sybille Rockstroh for assistance in data collection.
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Flor, H., Schugens, M.M. & Birbaumer, N. Discrimination of muscle tension in chronic pain patients and healthy controls. Biofeedback and Self-Regulation 17, 165–177 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01000401
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01000401