Acute experimentally induced neck pain does not affect fatigability of the peripheral biceps brachii muscle

Evidence has shown that upper limb muscles peripheral to the cervical spine, such as the biceps brachii, can demonstrate functional deficits in the presence of chronic neck pain. However, few studies have examined how neck pain can affect the fatigability of upper limb muscles; therefore we were motivated to investigate the effects of acutely induced neuropathic neck pain on the fatigability of the biceps brachii muscle during isometric contraction to exhaustion. Topical capsaicin was used to induce neck pain in 11 healthy male participants. Surface EMG signals were recorded from the biceps brachii during an isometric elbow flexion fatigue task in which participants held a weight equivalent to 30% of their MVC until exhaustion. Two experimental sessions, one placebo and one capsaicin, were conducted separated by two days. EMG mean power frequency and average normalized activation values were calculated over the course of the fatigue task. In the presence of pain, there was no statistically significant effect on EMG parameters during fatigue of the biceps brachii. These results demonstrate that acutely induced neuropathic neck pain does not affect the fatigability, under the tested conditions, of the biceps brachii.