The Effects of Immobilisation and Exercise on Homeostatic Plasticity Mechanisms in Healthy Participants

Homeostasis is important for maintaining a stable equilibrium of e.g., blood pressure, hormonal release, and release of neurotransmitters. Within the healthy brain, homeostatic plasticity mechanisms ensure stability in synaptic plasticity that maintains cortical excitability within a normal physiological range, while this regulation has been shown to be impaired in chronic pain conditions such as low back pain. Cortical excitability can also be decreased and increased experimentally, using immobilisation and exercise paradigms, respectively, yet it is unknown if this overall change in excitability is caused by a shift in homeostatic plasticity regulation. Investigating if immobilisation and exercise influences homeostatic plasticity responses, may therefore reveal important information on the malleability of homeostatic plasticity mechanisms and ways to modulate them.