Exercise-induced muscle soreness impairs the efficiency of proprioceptive integration and body representation processing

This study demonstrates that exercise-induced muscle soreness selectively impairs the efficiency of proprioceptive integration during body-related motor imagery, but without affecting global cognitive performance. By revealing how temporary peripheral disturbances alter internal sensorimotor representations, these findings provide new insights into the neural mechanisms of sensorimotor integration. This work highlights the functional consequences of acute muscle soreness for motor planning and offers a framework for understanding how the nervous system adapts to temporary proprioceptive disruption.