Experimental masticatory muscle pain

Ten female subjects with no history of temporomandibular disorders performed five exercises designed to induce masticatory muscle pain. Three of the exercises were replications of Christensen's tooth-clenching (1970) and tooth-grinding (1971) studies and Scott and Lundeen's mandibular protrusion (1980) study. The other two exercises were designed to induce specific unilateral masticatory muscle pain. The amount of muscle pain as well as the time of onset and the duration were assessed by a clinical palpation exam and a pain questionnaire. These five pain-inducing methods did not consistently produce masticatory muscle pain in non-pain subjects. However, certain individuals appeared to be very susceptible to developing pain during or after most of the exercises. These susceptible individuals demonstrated a bilateral muscle pain pattern after the unilaterally stressful exercises. None of the five exercises produced a statistically significant amount of site-specific masticatory muscle pain as determined by either the palpation examination or the pain questionnaire, even when the exercise was intended to produce such specificity. The fact that some subjects did develop masticatory muscle pain is indicative that muscle exercise and fatigue may lead to TMD-like symptoms.