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Related Experiment Videos

Hyperexcitability in fibromyalgia

J Sörensen1, T Graven-Nielsen, K G Henriksson

  • 1Department of Anaesthesiology, Pain Clinic, Linköping Hospital, Sweden.

The Journal of Rheumatology
|February 11, 1998
PubMed
Summary
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Fibromyalgia (FM) patients exhibit central hyperexcitability, a heightened pain response. This study shows that even muscles without spontaneous pain reveal this heightened sensitivity in FM, indicating a generalized issue.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Pain Research
  • Rheumatology

Background:

  • Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by chronic widespread pain and hyperalgesia.
  • The presence of localized muscular hyperalgesia without spontaneous pain in FM is not well understood.
  • Investigating this could reveal generalized hyperexcitability of the nociceptive system in FM patients.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if muscular hyperalgesia exists in fibromyalgia patients in muscles without spontaneous pain.
  • To assess if this localized hyperalgesia indicates generalized central sensitization in FM.

Main Methods:

  • A blinded study compared 12 women with FM to 12 age-matched female controls.
  • Pain thresholds were tested using pressure, electrical stimulation (skin and muscle), and hypertonic saline infusion into the anterior tibial muscle.

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  • Pain intensity, duration, and distribution were continuously recorded.

    • Main Results:

    • Fibromyalgia patients had lower pressure pain thresholds and lower thresholds for repeated intramuscular stimulation, indicating heightened temporal nociceptive summation (central sensitization).
    • Saline infusion caused longer-lasting muscle pain and larger referred pain areas in FM patients, confirming central hyperexcitability.
    • Skin electrical stimulation thresholds did not differ significantly between groups.

    Conclusions:

    • A state of central hyperexcitability exists within the nociceptive system of fibromyalgia patients.
    • This hyperexcitability can be detected through intramuscular nociceptor excitation, even in muscles lacking spontaneous pain.