A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled three-way cross-over study was performed to investigate the effect of two muscle relaxants (
tolperisone hydrochloride and
pridinol mesilate) on experimental jaw-
muscle pain and jaw-stretch reflexes. Fifteen healthy men participated in three randomised sessions separated by at least 1 week. In each session 300 mg
tolperisone, 8 mg
pridinol mesilate or placebo was administered orally as a single dose. One hour after
drug administration 0.3 ml hypertonic saline (5.8%) was injected into the right masseter to produce
muscle pain. Subjects continuously rated their perceived
pain intensity on an electronic 10-cm visual analogue scale (VAS). The pressure pain threshold (PPT) was measured and short-latency reflex responses were evoked in the pre-contracted (15% maximal voluntary contraction) masseter and temporalis muscles by a standardised stretch device (1 mm displacement, 10 ms ramp time) before (baseline), 1 h after medication (post-
drug), during ongoing experimental
muscle pain (
pain-post-
drug), and 15 min after
pain had vanished (post-
pain). Analysis of variance demonstrated significantly lower VAS peak
pain scores (5.9 +/- 0.4 cm) after administration of
tolperisone hydrochloride compared with
pridinol mesilate (6.8 +/- 0.4 cm) and placebo (6.6 +/- 0.4 cm) (P=0.020). Administration of
pridinol mesilate was associated with a significant decrease in PPTs compared with
tolperisone hydrochloride and placebo (P=0.002) after medication, but not after experimental jaw-
muscle pain. The normalised peak-to-peak amplitude of the stretch reflexes were not significantly influenced by the test medication (P=0.762), but were in all sessions significantly facilitated during ongoing experimental jaw-
muscle pain (P=0.034). In conclusion,
tolperisone hydrochloride provides a small, albeit significant reduction in the perceived intensity of experimental jaw-
muscle pain whereas the present dose had no effect on the short-latency jaw-stretch reflex.