ArticleEuropean journal of applied physiology2022
The effect of elevated muscle pain on neuromuscular fatigue during exercise.
Article in European journal of applied physiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Caffeine Exerts Neither Ergogenic nor Hypoalgesic Effects on Sprint Interval Exercise with Intensive Exercise-Induced Muscle Pain.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2025Trial
- Acute hypoalgesic and neurophysiological responses to lower-limb ischaemic preconditioning.Experimental brain research · 2025Trial
- Activation of skeletal muscle mechanoreceptors and nociceptors reduces the exercise performance of the contralateral homologous muscles.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2024Trial
- Menthol alleviates post-race elevations in muscle soreness and metabolic and respiratory stress during running.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Trial
- Elevated muscle pain induced by a hypertonic saline injection reduces power output independent of physiological changes during fixed perceived effort cycling.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2024Trial
- Tramadol is a performance-enhancing drug in highly trained cyclists: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2023Trial
- Muscarinic acetylcholine activity modulates cortical silent period, but not motor evoked potentials, during muscle contractions.Experimental brain research · 2023Trial
- Nature immersion in virtual reality has limited hypoalgesia effects for muscle pain or motor performance benefits during prescribed and self-regulated tasks.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Blood flow restriction induces similar peripheral stress but greater central drive impairments than systemic hypoxia during repeated cycling sprints.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Contralateral Thermal Pain and Naturally Occurring Muscle Pain Have Different Effects on Force Production During a Fixed Perceived Effort Handgrip Task.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Article
- Investigating the Modulation of Corticomotor and Neuromuscular Function by Contralateral and Ipsilateral Experimental Pain Applied During Cycling.Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports · 2025Article
- Greater Neuromuscular and Perceptual Fatigue after Low versus High Loads in the Bench Press: A Preliminary Study Applying Frequentist and Bayesian Group Analyses with Subject-by-Subject Case Series Reports.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Article
- Exercise-induced pain within endurance exercise settings: Definitions, measurement, mechanisms and potential interventions.Experimental physiology · 2024Review
- Acute hypoalgesic, neurophysiological and perceptual responses to low-load blood flow restriction exercise and high-load resistance exercise.Experimental physiology · 2024Article
- Limits of Ultra: Towards an Interdisciplinary Understanding of Ultra-Endurance Running Performance.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Review
- Intermittent blood flow occlusion modulates neuromuscular, perceptual, and cardiorespiratory determinants of exercise tolerance during cycling.European journal of applied physiology · 2023Article
- The Effect of Pre-Electroacupuncture on Nociceptive Discharges of Spinal Wide Dynamic Range Neurons in Rat.Journal of pain research · 2023Article
- Greater neuromuscular fatigue following low-load blood flow restriction than non-blood flow restriction resistance exercise among recreationally active men.Journal of neurophysiology · 2022Article
- The effect of hypertonic saline evoked muscle pain on neurophysiological changes and exercise performance in the contralateral limb.Experimental brain research · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeMuscle pain can impair exercise performance but the mechanisms for this are unknown. This study examined the effects of muscle pain on neuromuscular fatigue during an endurance task.
methodsOn separate visits, twelve participants completed an isometric time-to-task failure (TTF) exercise of the right knee extensors at ~ 20% of maximum force following an intramuscular injection of isotonic saline (CTRL) or hypertonic saline (HYP) into the vastus lateralis. Measures of neuromuscular fatigue were taken before, during and after the TTF using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and peripheral nerve stimulation.
resultsThe mean pain intensity was 57 ± 10 in HYP compared to 38 ± 18 in CTRL (P < 0.001). TTF was reduced in HYP (4.36 ± 0.88 min) compared to CTRL (5.20 ± 0.39 min) (P = 0.003). Maximum voluntary force was 12% lower at minute 1 (P = 0.003) and 11% lower at minute 2 in HYP (P = 0.013) compared to CTRL. Voluntary activation was 4% lower at minute 1 in HYP compared to CTRL (P = 0.006) but not at any other time point (all P > 0.05). The TMS silent period was 9% longer at 100 s during the TTF in HYP compared to CTRL (P = 0.026).
conclusionMuscle pain reduces exercise performance through the excacerbation of neuromuscular fatigue that is central in origin. This appears to be from inhibitory feedback from group III/IV nociceptors which acts to reduce central motor output.
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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.