• John D Breckenridge, James H McAuley, G Lorimer Moseley, and Karen A Ginn.
• School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Australia; The Clinical Research Institute, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: jbre9517@uni.sydney.edu.au.
• Musculoskelet Sci Pract. 2020 Aug 1; 48: 102159.

BackgroundImplicit motor imagery performance is altered in a variety of chronic pain conditions, but it is not known whether this is the case in shoulder pain.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess implicit motor imagery performance, using a valid and reliable shoulder left/right judgement task in people with shoulder pain.DesignCross-sectional observational study.MethodsParticipants with (n = 369) and without (n = 747) shoulder pain completed the shoulder left/right judgement task (LRJT). Response times (RT), accuracy were determined. Age, gender, hand dominance, current pain intensity, Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) and pain duration recorded. Planned analysis included ANOVAs for current pain, RT and accuracy.ResultsGender and hand dominance distribution were similar between groups (p > 0.5). The shoulder pain participants were older, mean age (SD); 47(14)years, than the control group; 41(14)years, p < 0.01. Participants with shoulder pain were slower, mean RT(SD); 1809(746)ms than the controls; 1701(749)ms; p = 0.02, but no different in accuracy, mean % (SD); 93.2(8.5)% to controls; 94.1(9.4)%; p = 0.13. The differences in RT were resolved when age was entered as a covariate (p = 0.83). Regression of the data from the shoulder pain group only found that current pain was positively related to RT (B = 43.97) and negatively to accuracy (B = -0.70).ConclusionsParticipants with shoulder pain do not demonstrate poorer implicit motor imagery performance than people who are pain-free. However, more intense shoulder pain is associated with poorer implicit motor imagery performance. We recommend further research utilising the LRJT in well-defined clinically homogenous groups, with verified pain severity, functional disability, and chronicity.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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