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Experimental muscle pain decreases the frequency threshold of electrically elicited muscle cramps

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Abstract

This study in humans tested the hypothesis that nociceptive muscle afferent input facilitates the occurrence of muscle cramps. In 13 healthy adults, muscle cramps were experimentally induced in the foot by stimulating the tibialis posterior nerve at the ankle with 2-s bursts of stimuli separated by 30 s, with stimulation frequency increasing by 2-Hz increments from 10 Hz until the cramp appeared. The minimum stimulation frequency that induced the cramp was defined “cramp frequency threshold”. In 2 days, elicitation of the cramp was performed in the two-feet with and without (baseline condition) injection of hypertonic (painful condition) or isotonic (control condition) saline into the deep midportion of the flexor hallucis brevis muscle, from where surface EMG signals were recorded. The cramp frequency threshold was lower for the painful condition with respect to its baseline (mean ± SE, hypertonic saline: 25.7 ± 2.1 Hz, corresponding baseline: 31.2 ± 2.8 Hz; P < 0.01) while there was no difference between the threshold with isotonic injection with respect to baseline. EMG average rectified value and power spectral frequency were higher during the cramp than immediately before the stimulation that elicited the cramp (pre-cramp: 13.9 ± 1.6 μV and 75.4 ± 3.8 Hz, respectively; post-cramp: 19.9 ± 3.2 μV and 101.6 ± 6.0 Hz; P < 0.05). The results suggest that nociceptive muscle afferent activity induced by injection of hypertonic saline facilitates the generation of electrically elicited muscle cramps.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rehabilitation Unit, Polo Pontino-ICOT, Latina, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Mariano Serrao & Francesco Pierelli

  2. Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI), Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7 D-3, 9220, Aalborg, Denmark

    Lars Arendt-Nielsen, Hong-You Ge & Dario Farina

  3. Department of Neurological Sciences, IRCCS “C. Mondino” Foundation, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Giorgio Sandrini

Authors
  1. Mariano Serrao
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  2. Lars Arendt-Nielsen
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  3. Hong-You Ge
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  4. Francesco Pierelli
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  5. Giorgio Sandrini
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  6. Dario Farina
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Correspondence to Dario Farina.

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Serrao, M., Arendt-Nielsen, L., Ge, HY. et al. Experimental muscle pain decreases the frequency threshold of electrically elicited muscle cramps. Exp Brain Res 182, 301–308 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-007-0985-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-007-0985-1

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