Experimental pain has a greater effect on single motor unit discharge during force-control than position-control tasks

Highlights • The manner that pain changes muscle activity during voluntary movements might not be appropriate for tasks with a more postural objective. • Postural-control tasks involve different changes in activity of single motor units, the final common output of the motor system, than those commonly observed in force-control tasks. • Unique responses of different tasks to nociceptive input challenge the veracity of simple theories of motor system adaption to pain.