Ppractice physical activity regularly can greatly improve the chronic pain tolerance and it can be agreat strategy to help people who suffer from it improve the quality of life. One proved it recently Norwegian study led by Professor Anders Årnes of Northern Norway University Hospital, Tromsø, and colleagues present these findings in the journal Plos One. We talked about it with Matteo Colombo and Michele Ronchi, Osteopaths specializing in the management of chronic musculoskeletal pain and founders Painlaba diverse team of professionals including osteopaths, physiotherapists and psychologists specializing in the management and prevention of musculoskeletal pain.
Physical activity and chronic pain: the Norwegian study
As reported by the Journalistic agency AGI“To clarify the relationship between physical activity and pain tolerance, the research team led by Professor Årnes analyzed data from 10,732 Norwegian adults who participated in a large population study: the Tromsø Study, conducted periodically in Norway.
The researchers used data from two phases of the Tromsø Study, one conducted from 2007 to 2008 and the other from 2015 to 2016. The data included participants’ reported levels of physical activity and their pain tolerance, assessed by a test involving immersion of the hand in cold water. Statistical analysis of the data showed that i participants who they claimed to be physically active in both phases of the Tromsø Study they had a higher pain tolerance compared to those who declared a sedentary lifestyle in both phases.
Participants who increased their physical activity between 2015/2016 and 2007/2008 showed a higher overall level of pain tolerance. The analysis did not show a statistically significant relationship between activity level and changes in pain tolerance between the two study phases. However, it suggests that staying physically active, becoming active, or increasing physical activity is related to increased pain tolerance.
Based on their findings, the researchers suggest that increasing physical activity could be a potential strategy to relieve or prevent chronic pain“.
What is the scientific explanation?
Physical exercise is able to modify central sensitization processes related to chronic pain. L’exercise-induced analgesic induction it is of the Top-Down type, therefore from the brain to the periphery. What happens is an activation of the inhibitory pathways and an inhibition of the facilitatory pathways of nociception (the sensory process that detects and conveys pain signals and sensations), so that raise the pain threshold. We know that several studies have investigated this phenomenon of exercise-induced analgesia. In the reference article we talk about tolerance instead of pain threshold and the cold pressure test it is in fact subjected to the maximum resistance of the participants.
The analgesic effect of physical activity
«From a biological point of view it is possible that the continuous “training” of these neural pathways is the reason why there is an increase in tolerance in the long term and not just in the threshold. We could make some speculations about the psychological role when we analyze people who have a lifestyle characterized by physical activity. For all the people of the world, have aches and pains throughout life is normal, it is a true demonstration of being alive.
The people who continue to exercise may have higher levels of pain acceptance, as well as the confidence to move despite the presence of pain. Or they may have fewer levels of fear which would make it easier to expect greater pain tolerance than sedentary people, who fear pain and who adopt passive behaviors to try to solve it»continues the expert.
Is it true that if the pain is acute you shouldn’t do physical activity?
Basically, physical activity is good for everything, with the right dosages calibrated for the person and the condition. Even acutely it can make a lot of sense to continue training.
If I break my foot obviously I won’t go running, but I can continue to use the rest of my body to maximize recovery time. If, on the other hand, I have not suffered trauma or injury, I will be able to continue training by doing what I can manage to ensure that the pain does not limit my daily activities.
What physical activity is recommended after the age of 50?
We assume that any physical activity is always recommended, even after the age of 50. Some sports practices may have a higher incidence of injuries than others this is true, but movement is always movement and it likely is the most powerful preventive tool of pain and other health conditions.
How to deal with your pain?
Each person has his own story and the pain is a multifactorial experience which should be analyzed through an lbio-psycho-social entity. For this reason, it is therefore impossible to give absolute and valid suggestions for everyone but, for the same reason, a valid question could be to ask yourself what you are doing to resolve your pain? Maybe all the approaches and therapies used so far, including physical activity, aim to find a cause and its resolution only in the biological and tissue sphere of pain.
How many of the approaches you have faced to date have taken into consideration your beliefs about pain? How much is it limiting you in your life e in the choices you make every day? And what is theimpact on your mood? How much is having a impact on sleep or about relationships what do you have with the people who are close to you? In short, we know that the Chronic pain interacts with different areas of one’s life and everyone should work on those that are most impacted by the pain itself.
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