Introduction:

Recent studies have shown that immobilization alter internal representations of the body (e.g., Toussaint et al., 2023). In this experiment, we explore whether the overuse of limbs—leading to delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS)—may produce similar effects. DOMS, which occur 24–72 hours post-exercise, involve a delayed recovery phase marked by neuromuscular fatigue and pain. A recent hypothesis attributes DOMS to damage of muscle spindle afferents rather than muscle fibers (see Sonkodi et al., 2020). Based on that idea, we hypothesize that DOMS impair the central nervous system's ability to integrate body representations based on proprioception. More specifically, we seek to determine whether the limbs overuse—leading to soreness—disrupt the perception of the position and movement of body segments, similar to the effects already documented for fatigue (see Proske & Chen, 2021) and chronic pain (e.g., Toussaint et al., 2025).

Methods:

Participants were recruited from the Faculty of Sport Sciences of Poitiers and divided into two groups: a DOMS group (N = 47), which performed a full-body exercise session (i.e., arms & legs) emphasizing eccentric phases, and a Control group (N = 47), which did not perform that exercise. First, both groups completed a questionnaire assessing perceived pain in their limbs (i.e., arms and legs) using a visual analog scale ranging from 0 to 10. All participants then completed 3 mental rotation tasks involving 1) left and right arms, 2) left and right legs and 3) the number 2 and its mirror images. The stimuli were presented in various orientation in the image plane and rotated either clockwise or counterclockwise. The DOMS group performed the task 48 hours after the exercise session. For the limb mental rotation tasks, participants were asked to determine whether the image depicted a left or right limb by pressing the corresponding keyboard key. For the control task involving numbers, participants judged whether the figure was the number "2" or its mirror image.

Results:

Repeated-measures ANOVAs were conducted on reaction time (RT) and percentage of correct responses, using a mixed design with a between-subjects factor Group (i.e., Control vs. DOMS) and two within-subjects factors: mental rotation tasks (i.e., arm/leg/number) and Orientation. While DOMS had no significant effect on mental rotation accuracy (i.e., % correct), a significant Group × Task interaction was observed for RT (F(2,184) = 4.6, p < .05). Specifically, DOMS significantly increased RTs in the arm mental rotation task (p < .05) and showed a trend toward significance in the leg mental rotation task (p = .06), whereas no group differences were found for the task that did not involve a body segment (i.e., number; p = .55).

Discussion:

DOMS may not affect the accuracy of limb laterality judgments, suggesting that body schema remains intact. However, reaction times were slower in the DOMS group for arm (and marginally leg) tasks, indicating a specific slowdown in sensorimotor processing related to the internal representation of the body. The Group × Task interaction on RT supports the idea that this delay is specific to tasks involving body representations, rather than a general cognitive slowdown. Slower RT may reflect the compensatory processing needed to update or rely on the sore muscles due to degraded proprioceptive information. These results may guide motor rehabilitation and performance strategies.

References

Proske, U., & Chen, B. (2021). Two senses of human limb position : Methods of measurement and roles in proprioception. Experimental Brain Research, 239(11), 3157‑3174. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-021-06207-4

Sonkodi, B., Berkes, I., & Koltai, E. (2020). Have we looked in the wrong direction for more than 100 years? Delayed onset muscle soreness is, in fact, neural microdamage rather than muscle damage. Antioxidants, 9(3), 212. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox9030212

Toussaint, L., Bidet-Ildei, C., Scotto, C., & Badets, A. (2023). Effects of short-term hand immobilization on anticipatory mechanism for tool use. Psychological Research, 87(8), 2407‑2418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-023-01824-w

Toussaint, L., Billot, M., Cabirol, R., Rigoard, P., Teillet, P., David, R., & Tisserand, R. (2025). Impact of chronic low back pain on implicit motor imagery assessed by a new laterality judgment task. The Journal of Pain, 26, 104719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2024.104719