Fig. 3
From: Experimental pain and fatigue induced by excessive chewing
Changes in subjective fatigue and pain intensity by excessive gum chewing. In this figure, median (IQR) subjective fatigue (a) and pain intensity scores (b) are shown before, at the end of the chewing task and at follow-ups up to 120 min after.15 healthy men and 16 age-matched healthy women participated in 2 sessions of either 40 or 60 min of excessive chewing the Mastiha chewing gum. The subjective fatigue scores increased significantly after the chewing tasks. The chewing tasks during 40-min and 60-min induced significantly higher subjective fatigue scores than baseline. The significant increase lasted up till 20 min after the chewing tasks. *Significant difference compared to baseline for 60-min chewing task (Friedman ANOVA test/Tukey post-hoc; P <  0.05). #Significant difference compared to baseline for 40-min chewing task (Friedman ANOVA test/Tukey post-hoc; P <  0.05). The pain intensity increased significantly after the 60-min chewing task. At the end of the 60-min chewing task, significantly higher pain intensity scores than baseline was induced. The significant increase did not last up till 10 min after the chewing task. There was no significant increase in pain intensity after the 40-min chewing task. *Significant difference compared to baseline for 60-min chewing task (Friedman ANOVA test/Tukey post-hoc; P < 0.05)