ArticlePain reports
Motor corticospinal excitability: a novel facet of pain modulation?
Article in Pain reports. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Central Post-Stroke Pain: An Integrative Review of Somatotopic Damage, Clinical Symptoms, and Neurophysiological Measures.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Pooled it
- High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Enhances Exercise-Induced Hypoalgesia in Healthy Individuals: An fNIRS Study.Brain and behavior · 2025Trial
- Prolonged continuous theta burst stimulation increases motor corticospinal excitability and intracortical inhibition in patients with neuropathic pain: An exploratory, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial.Neurophysiologie clinique = Clinical neurophysiology · 2023Trial
- Diminished corticomotor excitability in Gulf War Illness related chronic pain symptoms; evidence from TMS study.Scientific reports · 2020Trial
- Conditioned pain modulation, cortical imbalance, and arthrogenic muscle inhibition: an integrative model with implications for exercise in chronic pain.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Controllable Pulse Parameter Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Control Study.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Exploring pain-motor dynamics: preliminary insights through exploration of descending inhibition and corticospinal excitability.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The Effect of Dry Needling on Sleep Quality in Individuals With Musculoskeletal Pain Disorders.Pain research & management · 2026Review
- The Impact of Obesity as a Peripheral Disruptor of Brain Inhibitory Mechanisms in Fibromyalgia: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Acute hypoalgesic, neurophysiological and perceptual responses to low-load blood flow restriction exercise and high-load resistance exercise.Experimental physiology · 2024Article
- Body-site effect on CPM efficiency in healthy subjects: Central vs. peripheral stimulation.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Females with painful temporomandibular disorders present higher intracortical facilitation relative to pain-free controls.Clinical oral investigations · 2023Article
- Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of the Human Motor Cortex Modulates Processing of Heat Pain Sensation as Assessed by the Offset Analgesia Paradigm.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Relationship between Motor Corticospinal System, Endogenous Pain Modulation Mechanisms and Clinical Symptoms in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: New Perspectives on an Old Disease.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Effects of Aquatic Exercises for Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A 12-Week Intervention in a Quasi-Experimental Study with Pain as a Mediator of Depression.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Response to experimental cold-induced pain discloses a resistant category among endurance athletes, with a distinct profile of pain-related behavior and GABAergic EEG markers: a case-control preliminary study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
- Neurophysiological and psychophysical effects of dry versus sham needling of the infraspinatus muscle in patients with chronic shoulder pain: a randomized feasibility study.Archives of physiotherapy · 2021Article
- Development and Validation of a Predictive Model of Pain Modulation Profile to Guide Chronic Pain Treatment: A Study Protocol.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionIncrease in excitability of the primary motor cortex (M1) is associated with pain inhibition by analgesics, which is, in turn, associated with the psychophysical antinociceptive pain modulation profile. However, the relationship between neurophysiological M1 excitability and psychophysical pain modulation has not yet been explored.
objectivesWe aim to study these relationships in healthy subjects.
methodsForty-one young healthy subjects (22 women) underwent a wide battery of psychophysical testing that included conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and pain temporal summation, and a transcranial magnetic stimulation neurophysiological assessment of the motor corticospinal excitability, including resting motor threshold, motor-evoked potentials (MEPs), and cortical silent period.
resultsIncreased motor corticospinal excitability in 2 parameters was associated with more efficient CPM: (1) higher MEP amplitude (
conclusionsIncreased corticospinal excitability of the primary motor cortex is associated with more efficient inhibitory pain modulation as assessed by CPM, in healthy subjects. Motor-evoked potential amplitude and duration may be considered as an additional, objective and easy to measure parameter to allow for better individual assessment of pain modulation profile.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.