A master thesis from Aalborg University
The effect of experimental pain during motor skill training on acquisition and motor cortical maps
Author(s)
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2016
Submitted on
2016-06-02
Pages
30 pages
Abstract
The aim of the study was to determine if acute experimental pain in the soleus (SOL) affects the learning of a novel trace-tracking task involving fine control of dorsi flexion of the ankle joint, and the associated motor cortical maps of the tibialis (TA) and SOL, as assessed pre- and post-training. Twenty-four healthy participants (20 men, 4 women, age 24.79 ± 0.57 years, height 1.81 ± 0.02 m, weight 80.67 ± 2.49 kg, sporting activity per week 6.63 ± 0.58 hours) were semi-randomly divided into a pain and control group. Multiple injections of either hypertonic saline (0.5 mL, 0.6 mL, 0.8 mL, 1 mL, 5.8%) or isotonic saline (0.5 mL, 0.6, mL, 0.8 mL, 1 mL, 0.9%) as a control, was administered to the dominant soleus muscle throughout a 24-minute trace-tracking training period. Before and after the training, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the primary motor cortex (MI) to generate motor cortical maps of TA and SOL. Pain and control groups improved equally in motor skill performance, and pain did not interfere with performance improvement. Furthermore, no alterations were found in the motor maps for either TA or SOL for either group.
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