TY - JOUR
T1 - Vibrotactile threshold is elevated in temporomandibular disorders
AU - Hollins, Mark
AU - Sigurdsson, Asgeir
AU - Fillingim, Lori
AU - Goble, Alan K.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by NIH Program Project grant DE07509. We are grateful to William Maixner and Barry Whitsel, whose vision as program directors made this work possible. Thanks are due also to Thomas Lundeen for sharing his clinical insights in the early stages of the project, to Steve Folger for writing the computer programs, and to Roger Fillingim for valuable discussion.
PY - 1996/9
Y1 - 1996/9
N2 - Experimental pain can elevate vibrotactile threshold, a phenomenon attributed in the literature to the operation of a 'touch gate'. It is not known, however, whether clinical pain produces similar effects. To explore this possibility, we measured vibrotactile threshold in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) whose pain had a prominent myalgic component. Two-interval forced-choice tracking was used to determine threshold for a 25-Hz vibratory stimulus presented on the cheek. Threshold was found to be significantly elevated in the TMD group, compared to an age- and gender-matched control group of pain-free individuals. Within the TMD group, those with a supra-median level of muscle tenderness (corrected for background levels of spontaneous pain) had significantly higher threshold than those with lower levels of palpation pain. These findings are consistent with the idea of a touch gate, and suggest the usefulness of further research in this area with clinical pain populations. The effects of an adapting stimulus (25 Hz, 20 dB SL) were also studied, and found to produce parallel elevations in vibrotactile threshold in the TMD and pain-free groups. This result indicates that at least some adaptation occurs at a higher (subsequent) level of somatosensory information processing than does the touch gating implied by the unadapted thresholds.
AB - Experimental pain can elevate vibrotactile threshold, a phenomenon attributed in the literature to the operation of a 'touch gate'. It is not known, however, whether clinical pain produces similar effects. To explore this possibility, we measured vibrotactile threshold in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) whose pain had a prominent myalgic component. Two-interval forced-choice tracking was used to determine threshold for a 25-Hz vibratory stimulus presented on the cheek. Threshold was found to be significantly elevated in the TMD group, compared to an age- and gender-matched control group of pain-free individuals. Within the TMD group, those with a supra-median level of muscle tenderness (corrected for background levels of spontaneous pain) had significantly higher threshold than those with lower levels of palpation pain. These findings are consistent with the idea of a touch gate, and suggest the usefulness of further research in this area with clinical pain populations. The effects of an adapting stimulus (25 Hz, 20 dB SL) were also studied, and found to produce parallel elevations in vibrotactile threshold in the TMD and pain-free groups. This result indicates that at least some adaptation occurs at a higher (subsequent) level of somatosensory information processing than does the touch gating implied by the unadapted thresholds.
KW - Pain
KW - Temporomandibular disorders
KW - Vibrotactile threshold
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U2 - 10.1016/0304-3959(96)03083-7
DO - 10.1016/0304-3959(96)03083-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 8895235
AN - SCOPUS:0030247702
SN - 0304-3959
VL - 67
SP - 89
EP - 96
JO - Pain
JF - Pain
IS - 1
ER -