Background Women involved in repetitive, fatiguing, jobs develop more neck and/or shoulder musculoskeletal disorders than men. Sex differences in the pain response to exercise could contribute to the higher prevalence of neck/shoulder musculoskeletal disorders in women. The objective of this study was to assess sex differences in pain sensitivity following a fatiguing upper limb task. Relationships between measures of fatigue and of the sensitivity to nociceptive and to non-nociceptive stimulations were also explored. Methods Thirty healthy adults (15 women) performed a fatiguing repetitive pointing task with their dominant arm. Upper limb electromyography was recorded from the dominant upper trapezius, anterior deltoid and bicep brachii and from the contralateral tibialis anterior. Before and immediately after the repetitive pointing task, pressure pain and light touch sensitivity thresholds were measured over the same muscles. Results Electromyographic signs of fatigue were observed only in the anterior deltoid and biceps brachii muscles. Pressure pain thresholds over both muscles increased slightly (effect size ≤ 0.34), but no changes occurred over the upper trapezius and the tibialis anterior. Light touch thresholds increased moderately to importantly after the repetitive pointing task over all four muscles (effect sizes = 0.58 to 0.87). No sex differences were observed in any sensory variable. Moreover, no or weak correlations (r = -0.27 to 0.39) were observed between electromyographical signs of fatigue, light touch threshold and pressure pain threshold variables. Conclusions We observed sex-independent effects of a repetitive upper limb task on the sensitivity to painful and to nonpainful stimuli. Moreover, the hypoalgesia induced by the repetitive pointing task was weak and localized, and did not directly correlate with the induced muscle fatigue. Results suggest that fatigue-related changes in the sensitivity to noxious and innocuous stimuli could not explain women’s greater prevalence of neck/shoulder musculoskeletal disorders.
The objectives of this study were to assess the sex-specific relationships between motor and sensory adaptations to repetitive arm motion-induced neck/shoulder fatigue, and to measure how additional sensory stimulation affects these adaptations. Twenty-three participants performed two sessions of a repetitive pointing task until scoring 8 on the Borg CR10 scale for neck/shoulder exertion or for a maximum of 45 min, with and without sensory stimulation (i.e., light touch) applied on the fatiguing shoulder. Just before reaching the task termination criteria, all participants showed changes in mean and variability of arm joint angles and experienced a fivefold increase in anterior deltoid sensory threshold in the stimulus-present condition. Women with the greatest increases in anterior deltoid sensory thresholds demonstrated the greatest increases in shoulder variability (r = .66), whereas men with the greatest increases in upper-trapezius sensory thresholds demonstrated the greatest changes in shoulder angle (r = −.60) and coordination (r = .65) variability. Thus, sensory stimulation had no influence on time to termination but affected how men and women differently adapted, suggesting sex differences in sensorimotor fatigue response mechanisms.
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