Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Movement observation-induced modulation of pain perception and motor cortex excitability.
The observation of movements increases primary motor cortex (M1) excitability. This exploratory study examined the effects of movement observation on pressure pain threshold (PPT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-indexed corticospinal excitability bilaterally. ⋯ These exploratory findings support the notion that M1 is a robust modulator of pain-related neural networks. This effect might be mediated through modulation of the GABAergic system and appears to differ from what is observed in chronic pain.