Relations among muscle pain, sleep variables, and depression

Objectives: The relationships among muscle pain, pain threshold, sleep and depression were studied within a group of women in the active work force re porting musculoskeletal pains. Methods: Female low salary office employees, all [N = 96] reporting muscle pains, answered a sleep questionnaire. A muscle pain index comprising self- reported pain in the neck, back and shoulders/arm was computed. Pain thresh olds were measured in muscles of the neck, underarm, leg and thorax, and a pain threshold index was computed. The subjects also answered two depressio n scales. Results: A subjective sleep deficit of one hour or more was reported by 60 per cent of the subjects. Nineteen per cent reported difficulty going to sl eep. A high score of muscle pain was related to high subjective sleep need and s leep deficit, and to symptoms of insufficient sleep, like difficulty waking up and tiredness during the day. Muscle pain was not correlated to symptom s of poor sleep, like frequent awakenings, and was negatively correlated to difficulty falling asleep. Regression analyses indicated that the muscle p ain was mainly related to the sleep variables, while depression contributed most to pain threshold scores. Conclusion: The data suggest that women with a high index of subjective mus cle pain have insufficient sleep, possibly due to a high need for sleep.