Effect of physical training on pain sensitivity and trapezius muscle morphology
One article on PainSci cites Nielsen 2010: Strength Training for Pain & Injury Rehab
PainSci commentary on Nielsen 2010: ?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided wherever possible.
In this experiment, 62 women (40 with shoulder pain, 20 without) participated in either a general exercise program or specific strength training for their shoulders. Pain tolerance and strength increased response to strength training in the women who started out with pain. In those who had no pain to begin with, both general exercise and specific exercise training were beneficial.
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
The objective of this study was to investigate morphological and physiological characteristics of painful muscles in women with (MYA, n=42) and without (CON, n=20) trapezius myalgia, and assess changes in response to a 10-week, randomized, controlled trial. MYA accomplished: (1) specific strength training (SST); (2) general fitness training (GFT); or (3) reference intervention (REF).
Differences in muscle morphology could not be detected by ultrasound imaging. Significantly lower pressure pain threshold (PPT) and shoulder torque were observed for MYA, indicating pain-related lack of full activation. After 10 weeks, increased shoulder torque and PPT of the painful trapezius were observed in SST solely. The PPT of a pain-free reference muscle was increased in response to both SST and GFT, indicating a general effect of physical activity on pain perception. This study shows clinically relevant improvement in pain sensitivity and muscle strength capacity in response to SST.
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- “Dose-Response Relationship of Specific Training to Reduce Chronic Neck Pain and Disability,” R Nikander, E Mälkiä, J Parkkari, A Heinonen, H Starck, and J Ylinen, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2006.
- “Stretching exercises vs manual therapy in treatment of chronic neck pain: a randomized, controlled cross-over trial,” Jari Ylinen, Hannu Kautiainen, Kaija Wiren, and Arja Hakkinen, Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 2007.
- “Effect of neck exercises on cervicogenic headache: a randomized controlled trial,” Jari Ylinen, Riku Nikander, Matti Nykänen, Hannu Kautiainen, and Arja Häkkinen, Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 2010.
- “Active neck muscle training in the treatment of chronic neck pain in women: a randomized controlled trial,” Jari Ylinen, Esa-Pekka Takala, Matti Nykänen, Arja Häkkinen, Esko Mälkiä, Timo Pohjolainen, Sirkka-Liisa Karppi, Hannu Kautiainen, and Olavi Airaksinen, Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003.
- “Effects of neck muscle training in women with chronic neck pain: one-year follow-up study,” J J Ylinen, A H Häkkinen, E P Takala, M J Nykänen, H J Kautiainen, E A Mälkiä, T H Pohjolainen, S L Karppi, and O V Airaksinen, Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 2006.
- “Neck muscle training in the treatment of chronic neck pain: a three-year follow-up study,” J Ylinen, A Häkkinen, M Nykänen, H Kautiainen, and E-P Takala, Europa Medicophysica, 2007.
- “Dose-Response Relationship of Specific Training to Reduce Chronic Neck Pain and Disability,” R Nikander, E Mälkiä, J Parkkari, A Heinonen, H Starck, and J Ylinen, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2006.
- “Effect of therapeutic exercise on pain and disability in the management of chronic nonspecific neck pain: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials,” Lucia Bertozzi, Ivan Gardenghi, Francesca Turoni, Jorge Hugo Villafañe, Francesco Capra, Andrew A Guccione, and Paolo Pillastrini, Physical Therapy, 2013.
- “Long-term effects of therapeutic exercise on nonspecific chronic neck pain: a literature review,” Chih-Hsiu Cheng, Hao-Tsung Su, Ling-Wei Yen, Wen-Yu Liu, and Hsin-Yi Kathy Cheng, J Phys Ther Sci, 2015.
- “Exercises for mechanical neck disorders,” Gross, Anita and Kay, Theresa M and Paquin, Jean-Philippe and Blanchette, Samuel and Lalonde, Patrick and Christie, Trevor and Dupont, Genevieve and Graham, Nadine and Burnie, Stephen J and Gelley, Geoff and Goldsmith, Charles H and Forget, Mario and Hoving, Jan L and Brønfort, Gert and Santaguida, Pasqualina L and {Cervical Overview Group}, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2015.
- “The effects of training and detraining after an 8 month resistance and stretching training program on forward head and protracted shoulder postures in adolescents: Randomised controlled study,” R M Ruivo, A I Carita, and P Pezarat-Correia, Manual Therapy, 2015.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Exercise and education versus saline injections for knee osteoarthritis: a randomised controlled equivalence trial. Bandak 2022 Ann Rheum Dis.
- Association of Lumbar MRI Findings with Current and Future Back Pain in a Population-based Cohort Study. Kasch 2022 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- A double-blinded randomised controlled study of the value of sequential intravenous and oral magnesium therapy in patients with chronic low back pain with a neuropathic component. Yousef 2013 Anaesthesia.
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- Sudden amnesia resulting in pain relief: the relationship between memory and pain. Choi 2007 Pain.