An investigation of symptom-specific muscle hyperreactivity in upper extremity cumulative trauma disorder

Objective: The study examined symptom-specific muscle hyperreactivity in pa tients with chronic pain with upper limb cumulative trauma disorder (CTD). Design: Four tasks were presented in counterbalanced order and included neu tral, general stressor, personal stressor, and pain stressor tasks. Ratings of stressfulness and recordings of skin conductance level confirmed the ef fectiveness of the experimental manipulations in inducing stress experience s for all subject groups. Setting: The study was conducted in a university research center. Patients: Thirty patients with CTD were matched as closely as possible for age and gender to control groups of chronic low back pain, arthritis, and p ain-Free subjects Outcome Measures: Surface electromyograph recordings were taken from the fr ontalis, forearm flexors, trapezius, and lower back during baseline and tas ks. Results: The study found no evidence of greater muscle tension increases or extended duration of return to baseline for the CTD or low back pain patie nts at any of the muscle sites for any of the tasks in comparison to contro l groups. Conclusions: The results indicate that symptom-specific psychophysiological responses may be limited to certain subgroups rather than being characteri stic of chronic musculoskeletal pain patients in general.