As we say time and time again on the blog, our bodies are designed to move. They crave movement. Movement helps to keep our muscles strong and functioning successfully, which is why movement and exercise are so often recommended for patients with chronic pain. However, new research suggests that regular movement could also help to improve a person’s pain tolerance.
For the study, researchers from UiT The Arctic University of Norway, the University Hospital of North Norway (UNN), and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health decided to see if there was a relationship between physical activity and pain tolerance. After reviewing data from more than 10,000 adults, they found that individuals who were physically active had a higher pain tolerance than those who were sedentary. Perhaps more interestingly, the higher the activity level, the higher the pain tolerance.
Can Exercise Prevent Pain?
Armed with this knowledge, researchers wanted to take it a step further and see if there was a connection between physical activity and the eventual onset of a chronic pain condition. They found that being active certainly appeared to help ward off chronic pain conditions.
“We found that people who were more active in their free time had a lower chance of having various types of chronic pain 7-8 years later,” said doctoral fellow Anders Årnes at UiT and UNN, who worked on the study. “For example, being just a little more active, such as going from light to moderate activity, was associated with a 5% lower risk of reporting some form of chronic pain later.”
Moreover, researchers found that higher activity was associated with a 16 percent reduced risk of developing a chronic pain condition in more than one location in the body. The believe that the ability to tolerate pain did in fact play a role in this apparent protective effective.
“This suggests that physical activity increases our ability to tolerate pain and may be one of the ways in which activity helps to reduce the risk of severe chronic pain,” said Årnes.
He added that although exercise may have a protective effect when it comes to chronic pain, it could also play a role in treatment as it helps people become less sensitive to pain signals.
“Physical activity is not dangerous in the first place, but people with chronic pain can benefit greatly from having an exercise program adapted to help them balance their effort so that it is not too much or too little. Health care professionals experienced in treating chronic pain conditions can often help with this.”
If you need help developing an exercise program tailored to your strengths and deficits, let us be your guide. Dr. Cohn has helped people of all activity levels find ways to move more and fight back against their chronic pain condition, and we can do the same for you. For more information, or for help with a different pain issue, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his office today at (952) 738-4580.