Muscular reactivity and specificity in chronic back pain
Muscular reactivity and specificity in chronic back pain patients
From: Psychosomatic Medicine. 2008 Jan;70(1):125-31. Epub 2007 Dec 24
Comparison of the muscular reactivity of patients with chronic back pain to different psychological stressors with the reactions of healthy controls. We also investigated the specificity of muscular reaction near the site of pain in comparison to distal sites. The symptom-specificity model of chronic pain postulates that increased muscle tension in chronic back pain patients may be responsible for the development and maintenance of chronic pain.
Studied were a total of 54 chronic back pain patients with musculoskeletal pain of the lower back, midback, or neck and 62 healthy controls, matched with chronic back pain patients. Muscle tension and skin conductance level (SCL) were assessed. The four experimental conditions included back focusing, a personally relevant stressor, a cognitive stressor, and a social stressor.
Chronic back pain patients showed patterns of higher muscular reactivity in the lower back region for chronic low back pain patients during the exposure to a personally relevant stressor, a cognitive stressor, and a social stressor. Additionally, chronic low back pain patients showed specific muscular responses in the lower back. The results support the assumptions made by the symptom-specificity model of chronic back pain, but only for lower back, not for midback and neck. Treatment programs of chronic low back pain should include specific combined relaxation and stress management components.
