Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of pinching-evoked pain on jaw-stretch reflexes and exteroceptive suppression periods in healthy subjects.
To investigate the influence of conditioning cutaneous nociceptive inputs by a new "pinch" model on the jaw-stretch reflex and the exteroceptive suppression periods (ES1 and ES2) in jaw muscles. ⋯ The novel observation that high-intensity pinch stimuli applied to the craniofacial region fail to modulate two different brainstem reflexes is in contrast to other experimental pain studies documented facilitation of the jaw-stretch reflexes or inhibition of exteroceptive suppression periods. The clinical implication of the present findings is that only some craniofacial pain conditions could be expected to show perturbation of the brainstem reflex responses.