Effects of intensity and locus of painful stimulation on postural stability

Stimulation of small diameter afferents can influence motor behavior. Little is known about how a prolonged painful stimulation of these small afferents may affect essential motor behavior such as the maintenance of an erect stance. The present study documents the effects of 10-s weak, moderate and extreme painful stimulations applied to the dorsum of the feet on the postural stability. Also, the moderate painful stimulation was applied to the metacarpal heads to determine if a painful stimulation to a limb not involved in the maintenance of the erect stance affects the postural control mechanisms. Increasing the intensity of the painful stimulation applied to the feet yielded larger postural oscillations whereas stimulation to the hands did not affect the control of posture. This suggests that the painful stimulation mainly affected the postural control mechanisms via sensorimotor processes rather than via cognitive resources related to the perception of pain.