Abstract
Changes in an individual's state—for example, anxiety/chronic pain—can modify the
perception of action capabilities and physical task requirements. In parallel, considerable
literature supports altered motor performance during both acute and chronic pain.
This study aimed to determine the effect of experimental pain on perception of action
capabilities and performance of a dynamic motor task. Performance estimates and actual
performance of maximal single-leg hops were recorded for both legs in 13 healthy participants
before, during, and after an episode of acute pain induced by a single bolus injection
of hypertonic saline into vastus lateralis of 1 leg, with the side counterbalanced
among participants. Both estimation of performance and actual performance were smaller
(P < .01) during pain than before and after pain. This decrease in estimation and performance
during pain was apparent for hops using either leg, but it was greater (P < .01) for the painful leg (−10.8 ± 12.1 cm) than for the control leg (−5.5 ± 7.9 cm).
Participants accurately estimated their performance in all conditions for both legs.
The results provide evidence that healthy participants have the ability to update
the action-scaled relationship between perception and ability during acute pain.
Perspective
This study demonstrates that the relationship between perceived physical ability and
actual performance is effectively updated during acute muscle pain. This match between
perceived ability and performance could be relevant during clinical pain assessment,
with the potential to be a biomarker of transition from acute to chronic pain state.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 25, 2013
Accepted:
October 29,
2013
Received in revised form:
October 8,
2013
Received:
July 16,
2013
Footnotes
The NHMRC provided research fellowships for P.H. (ID401599) and K.T. (ID1009410). This work was completed at Nantes University, France. Financial support for K.T. was also provided by a Queensland Government Research Travel Fellowship, 2012. Project support was provided by an NHMRC program grant (to P.H.: ID631717).
The sponsors had no role in the design and conduct of the study, in the collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data, or in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
