Røe C, Bjørklund R A, Knardahl S, Waersted M, Vøllestad N K
Department of Physiology, National Institute of Occupational Health, University of Oslo, Norway.
Ergonomics. 2001 Jan 15;44(1):1-16. doi: 10.1080/00140130116821.
The present study determined whether workers with chronic shoulder myalgia exhibit impaired cognitive performance and elevated muscle activation. Ten workers with and 10 without shoulder myalgia performed three sessions, each consisting of three different cognitive tasks. Subjective pain was reported on visual analogue scales (VAS). Surface electromyography was recorded bilaterally from the trapezius and forearm extensor muscles. Speed and error rates of the cognitive work were almost the same in the two groups, but the myalgia subjects reported more stress during the work. In two of the cognitive tasks, both groups increased their speed of performance to the same extent from the first to the third session, despite pain increase in the myalgia subjects. In the biomechanically demanding task, the speed fell from the first to the third session in both groups. Muscle activation was equal in the two groups and constant throughout the protocol despite changes in speed of performance and pain. It is concluded that localized chronic muscle pain does not significantly alter cognitive performance, or muscle activation level during cognitive work. However, the perceived burden of work is larger, as indicated by the higher stress reported during cognitive work in the myalgia subjects compared with their pain-free controls.
本研究旨在确定患有慢性肩部肌痛的工人是否存在认知能力受损和肌肉激活增强的情况。10名患有肩部肌痛的工人和10名无肩部肌痛的工人进行了三个阶段的测试，每个阶段包括三项不同的认知任务。通过视觉模拟量表（VAS）报告主观疼痛程度。双侧记录斜方肌和前臂伸肌的表面肌电图。两组认知工作的速度和错误率几乎相同，但肌痛组工人在工作期间报告的压力更大。在两项认知任务中，尽管肌痛组工人的疼痛加剧，但两组从第一阶段到第三阶段的表现速度都有相同程度的提高。在对生物力学要求较高的任务中，两组从第一阶段到第三阶段的速度均有所下降。尽管表现速度和疼痛发生了变化，但两组的肌肉激活情况相同，且在整个测试过程中保持恒定。研究得出结论，局部慢性肌肉疼痛不会显著改变认知表现或认知工作期间的肌肉激活水平。然而，与无痛对照组相比，肌痛组工人在认知工作期间报告的压力更大，这表明他们感受到的工作负担更重。
