Peters M L, Schmidt A J
Department of Medical Psychology, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
J Psychosom Res. 1991;35(1):59-74. doi: 10.1016/0022-3999(91)90007-b.
Psychophysiological recordings (electrodermal activity, heart rate, respiration rate and frontalis and back muscle tension) were taken in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients and control subjects during baseline conditions and during the presentation of six acute pressure pain stimuli. No baseline differences in back muscle tension between CLBP patients and controls were found, but CLBP patients did have higher baseline electrodermal activity. During pain stimulation, CLBP patients showed larger skin conductance reactions than controls. Also, the CLBP patient group showed a marked increase in lumbar muscle tension during the test compared to baseline, whereas the EMG level of the control group remained unchanged. This increase in muscle tension seemed to be more related to the postural change than to the pain stimulus, and it is hypothesized that some CLBP patients react with exaggerated and non-functional back muscle contractions to slight changes in posture. Contrary to expectation, no differences were found between CLBP patients and controls in physiological habituation after repeating the pain stimulus. Comparison of subjective pain ratings and psychophysiological variables showed that for control subjects arousal and subjective pain were related. For CLBP patients there was no such clear relationship.
在慢性下腰痛（CLBP）患者和对照组中，于基线状态以及呈现六种急性压力疼痛刺激期间进行了心理生理记录（皮肤电活动、心率、呼吸频率以及额肌和背部肌肉张力）。未发现CLBP患者和对照组在背部肌肉张力的基线差异，但CLBP患者的基线皮肤电活动较高。在疼痛刺激期间，CLBP患者比对照组表现出更大的皮肤电导反应。此外，与基线相比，CLBP患者组在测试期间腰椎肌肉张力显著增加，而对照组的肌电图水平保持不变。这种肌肉张力的增加似乎更多地与姿势变化有关，而非疼痛刺激，据推测，一些CLBP患者会对姿势的轻微变化做出夸张且无功能的背部肌肉收缩反应。与预期相反，在重复疼痛刺激后，CLBP患者和对照组在生理适应性方面未发现差异。主观疼痛评分与心理生理变量的比较表明，对于对照组，唤醒与主观疼痛相关。对于CLBP患者，不存在这种明确的关系。
