Evidence has shown that upper limb muscles peripheral to the cervical spine, such as the biceps brachii, can demonstrate functional deficits in the presence of chronic
neck pain. However, few studies have examined how
neck pain can affect the fatigability of upper limb muscles; therefore we were motivated to investigate the effects of acutely induced neuropathic
neck pain on the fatigability of the biceps brachii muscle during isometric contraction to exhaustion. Topical
capsaicin was used to induce
neck pain in 11 healthy male participants. Surface EMG signals were recorded from the biceps brachii during an isometric elbow flexion
fatigue task in which participants held a weight equivalent to 30% of their MVC until exhaustion. Two experimental sessions, one placebo and one
capsaicin, were conducted separated by two days. EMG mean power frequency and average normalized activation values were calculated over the course of the
fatigue task. In the presence of
pain, there was no statistically significant effect on EMG parameters during
fatigue of the biceps brachii. These results demonstrate that acutely induced neuropathic
neck pain does not affect the fatigability, under the tested conditions, of the biceps brachii.