Several days of muscle hyperalgesia facilitates cortical somatosensory excitability

Maladaptive plasticity in neural circuits has been proposed in chronic musculoskeletal pain and has been discussed as a key component of the transition from acute to chronic pain. The induction of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in healthy individuals is one method that can be used to investigate the adaptations of neural circuits in response to several days of muscle hyperalgesia. The aim of this study was to determine the adaptations of the sensory cortex in response to muscle hyperalgesia induced by eccentric exercise of the wrist extensor muscles. It was hypothesized that muscle hyperalgesia would result in a facilitation of cortical somatosensory excitability, based on sensory evoked potentials evoked by electrical stimulation of the radial nerve.