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AbstractObjectives: In the present quantitative and methodological study we systematically investigated the variability and sensory aspects of experimental muscle pain induced by hypertonic saline 'as proposed by Kellgren.Methods: Four experiments were carried out: 1. intra-individual variability in saline-induced muscle pain, 2. the influence of saline concentration 0.9%, 5%, 11.5% and 20%, 3. the Influence of infusion time 20 and 100 seconds and volume 0.1 ml and 0.5 ml and 4. the influence of tissue type periosteum, muscle, subcutis. The infusion of hypertonic saline was standardized using a computer-controlled infusion pump. Pain intensity, quality, distribution and cutaneous sensory changes were assessed.Results: It was possible to obtain reproducible intra-individual variability < 15.6% ± 54.3 scores of pain intensity, quality, distribution and cutaneous changes. There was a significant correlation between pain intensity and the infused volume R = 0.51, P < 0.001 and concentration R = 0.76, P < 0.0001 of hypertonic saline. The onset of pain was correlated to the infusion time R = 0.57, P < 0.001 and concentration R = − 0.40, P < 0.02. The pain offset and peak time were significantly P < 0.05 influenced by the concentration and infusion time. The infusions close to the periosteum caused a higher pain intensity compared to infusions in muscle and subcutis. Infusions in subcutis produced a "scalding" pain quality that was different compared to the "drilling" and "taut" quality of muscular pain. Cutaneous hypoesthesia to pin-prick and touch close to the injection site were the most commonly observed changes in sensation.Conclusion: The findings indicate that the hypertonic saline muscle pain model is useful when studying basic physiological aspects-of human muscle pain.KEYWORDS: Experimental muscle painhypertonic salinereferred paincutaneous hypo- and hyperesthesia
Graven‐Nielsen et al. (Wed,) studied this question.