Bodily Illusions and Motor Imagery in Fibromyalgia

Abstract

Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterised by chronic, continuous, widespread pain, often associated with a sense of fatigue, non-restorative sleep and physical exhaustion. Due to the nature of this condition and the absence of other neurological issues potentially able to induce disorders in body representations per se, it represents a perfect model since it provides an opportunity to study the relationship between pain and the bodily self. Corporeal illusions were investigated in 60 participants with or without a diagnosis of FM by means of an ad hoc devised interview. In addition, motor imagery was investigated and illusions relating to body part movements and changes in body size, feelings of alienness, and sensations of body parts not belonging to one’s own body (disownership and somatoparaphrenic-like sensations) were found. Crucially, these symptoms do not correlate with any of the clinical measures of pain or functional deficits. The results showed that motor imagery was also impaired, and the severity of the deficits found correlated with the functional impairment of the participant. This indicates that disorders in body representations and motor imagery are part of the clinical expression of FM. However, while motor imagery seems to be linked to reduced autonomy and functional deficits, bodily illusions are independent and potentially represent a concurrent symptom.

Pain and the Perception of Space in Fibromyalgia: Effects of Pain in Estimations of Distance

“…N. 2147cesc) and was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (2013). The same participants had previously participated in another study (Scandola et al, 2022).…”

“…The aim of the current study is to understand the potential modulatory effects of pain on the perception and estimation of distances. Chronic pain is known to affect body representations in terms of action representations (Coslett et al, 2010;Schwoebel et al, 2001) and motor imagery (Scandola et al, 2022), but its effects on the perception of navigation space are inconclusive (MacIntyre et al, 2022; Tabor et al, 2013;Witt et al, 2009), probably because of the complex and multifactorial nature of pain. Indeed, pain may represent a temporary or chronic condition (i.e.…”

Visuotactile integration in individuals with fibromyalgia

“…Moreover, a correlation was found between the altered temporal discrimination threshold and several FM symptoms, such as the intensity of pain, the severity of various somatic and cognitive symptoms, and the level of impairment (Gunendi et al, 2019). In addition to these alterations, individuals with FM experience body representation distortions (Valenzuela-Moguillansky, 2013;Menten et al, 2022;Scandola et al, 2022), which could stem from modifications of the weighting of somatosensory information. However, no study has directly tested multisensory integration in this population.…”

“…Moreover, when they were asked to draw their lower back as they felt it (as opposed to how they saw it), the drawings were distorted compared to the control group (Moseley, 2008). Alterations of the body representation in chronic pain populations can manifest themselves as a perception of changes in the size (Lewis et al, 2007;Lotze and Moseley, 2007;Peltz et al, 2011;Valenzuela-Moguillansky, 2013;Dieguez and Lopez, 2017;Brun et al, 2019;Menten et al, 2022;Scandola et al, 2022), the shape (Moseley, 2008;Valenzuela-Moguillansky, 2013;Menten et al, 2022), the weight (Valenzuela-Moguillansky, 2013;Brun et al, 2019), the existence (Moseley, 2008;Valenzuela-Moguillansky, 2013;Dieguez and Lopez, 2017;Menten et al, 2022) of the body part or in the feeling of ownership over the body part (Lewis et al, 2007;Valenzuela-Moguillansky, 2013;Scandola et al, 2022). These body representation distortions could stem from alterations in the multisensory integration of somatosensory information in individuals with chronic pain.…”

Motor imagery vividness and symptom severity in Parkinson's disease

“…Breckenridge et al, 2019) and fibromyalgia (e.g. Scandola et al, 2021). In Parkinson's disease (PD), the progressive degeneration of dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons originating in the substantia nigra pars compacta of the basal ganglia and projecting to the striatum (Agid, 1991) results in profound motor symptoms including tremor, rigidity, slowed movement execution (bradykinesia) and reduced movement amplitude (Crawford III & Zimmerman, 2011;Politis et al, 2010).…”