• Shinichiro Shiozawa, Rogerio Pessoto Hirata, and Thomas Graven-Nielsen.
• Laboratory for Musculoskeletal Pain and Motor Control, Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI), Department of Health Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
• Plos One. 2015 Jan 1; 10 (12): e0144933.

BackgroundPostural control during rapid movements may be impaired due to musculoskeletal pain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of experimental knee-related muscle pain on the center of pressure (CoP) displacement in a reaction time task condition.MethodsNine healthy males performed two reaction time tasks (dominant side shoulder flexion and bilateral heel lift) before, during, and after experimental pain induced in the dominant side vastus medialis or the tibialis anterior muscles by hypertonic saline injections. The CoP displacement was extracted from the ipsilateral and contralateral side by two force plates and the net CoP displacement was calculated.ResultsCompared with non-painful sessions, tibialis anterior muscle pain during the peak and peak-to-peak displacement for the CoP during anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) of the shoulder task reduced the peak-to-peak displacement of the net CoP in the medial-lateral direction (P<0.05). Tibialis anterior and vastus medialis muscle pain during shoulder flexion task reduced the anterior-posterior peak-to-peak displacement in the ipsilateral side (P<0.05).ConclusionsThe central nervous system in healthy individuals was sufficiently robust in maintaining the APA characteristics during pain, although the displacement of net and ipsilateral CoP in the medial-lateral and anterior-posterior directions during unilateral fast shoulder movement was altered.

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