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HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article

Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Neuroprosthetics
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1511783

Central mechanisms of muscle tone regulation: implications for pain and performance

Provisionally accepted
Timothy W Cacciatore Timothy W Cacciatore 1*David Ian Anderson David Ian Anderson 2Rajal G Cohen Rajal G Cohen 3
  • 1 Self Employed, Cheltenham, United Kingdom
  • 2 San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, United States
  • 3 University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Muscle tone represents a foundational property of the motor system with the potential to impact musculoskeletal pain and motor performance. Muscle tone is involuntary, dynamically adaptive, interconnected across the body, sensitive to postural demands, and distinct from voluntary control. Research has historically focused on pathological tone, peripheral regulation, and contributions from passive tissues, without consideration of the neural regulation of active tone and its consequences, particularly for neurologically healthy individuals. Indeed, simplistic models based on the stretch reflex, which neglect the central regulation of tone, are still perpetuated today. Recent advances regarding tone are dispersed across different literatures, including animal physiology, pain science, motor control, neurology, and child development. This paper brings together diverse areas of research to construct a conceptual model of the neuroscience underlying active muscle tone. It highlights how multiple tonic drive networks tune the excitability of complex spinal feedback circuits in concert with various sources of sensory feedback and in relation to postural demands, gravity, and arousal levels. The paper also reveals how tonic muscle activity and excitability are disrupted in people with musculoskeletal pain and how tone disorders can lead to marked pain and motor impairment. The paper presents evidence that integrative somatic methods address the central regulation of tone and discusses potential mechanisms and implications for tone rehabilitation to improve pain and performance.

    Keywords: Muscle tone, Postural tone, Neurophysiology, stiffness, Musculoskeletal Pain, movement coordination, Complimentary and Integrative Health

    Received: 15 Oct 2024; Accepted: 11 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cacciatore, Anderson and Cohen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Timothy W Cacciatore, Self Employed, Cheltenham, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.