Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Temporal Relationship Between Stress And Spasticity, A Comparison Between Subjects With And Without Intact Thyroid Function, Dr. Roger Allen, Benjamin L. Hannula, Benjamin T. Gilksion, Caitlin A. Turner

Physical Therapy Research Symposium

Purpose/Hypothesis: Stress has been studied as a credible trigger of spasticity, but evidence is limited concerning temporal relationships. Case studies of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and fibromyalgia (FM) have established a ten-day delay between psychogenic stress and episodic pain flares. This is explained by a stress induced release of thyroxine (T4) from the thyroid gland via the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis, which reaches its peak effect by day 10. Models suggest that T4 may increase peripheral nerve excitability, which could increase sensitivity in 1A fibers from muscle spindles, leading to hyper-excitability in motor neuron pools. The purpose of our study …