19/11/2025
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Evidence for spinal disinhibition as a pain-generating mechanism in fibromyalgia: https://journals.lww.com/painrpts/fulltext/2025/02000/evidence_for_spinal_disinhibition_as_a.16.aspx
A study published in Pain Reports shows spinal disinhibition, the disruption of the spinal cord’s inhibitory systems that modulate pain signals in people with fibromyalgia.
To measure spinal disinhibition in the new study, researchers used the Hoffman reflex (H-reflex) rate-dependent depression (HRDD) as a biomarker. They applied nerve-stimulating electrical pulses to the calves of 31 patients with fibromyalgia and 20 healthy control volunteers.
With normal spinal inhibition, the H-reflex response should have become smaller with repetition as the spinal cord regulates nerve activity and sensory information. However, people with fibromyalgia, especially those early in the course of their disease, had impaired HRDD. The H-reflex response did not decrease as it did in healthy control volunteers.
Reference:
Marshall, Annea,b; Burgess, Jamiea,b; Goebel, Andreasa,c; Frank, Bernharda,c; Alam, Uazmana,b,d,e; Marshall, Andrewa,f. Evidence for spinal disinhibition as a pain-generating mechanism in fibromyalgia syndrome. PAIN Reports 10(1):p e1236, February 2025. | DOI: 10.1097/PR9.0000000000001236
