Original article
Thermal Pain Perception After Aerobic Exercise

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2004.09.024Get rights and content

Abstract

Ruble SB, Hoffman MD, Shepanski MA, Valic Z, Buckwalter JB, Clifford PS. Thermal pain perception after aerobic exercise.

Objective

To examine thermal pain perception before, 5 minutes after, and 30 minutes after 30 minutes of treadmill exercise at 75% of maximal oxygen uptake (V̇o2max).

Design

Repeated-measures.

Setting

Sports science laboratory.

Participants

Convenience sample of 14 healthy male and female volunteers (mean age ± standard deviation, 32±3y).

Interventions

Sensory thresholds, pain thresholds, and pain ratings to hot and cold stimuli were measured before and after 30 minutes of treadmill exercise at 75% of V̇o2max. The hot and cold stimuli were delivered by using a thermode placed on the thenar eminence of the nondominant hand. Thermal sensory and pain thresholds were determined during continuous ramps in temperature of the thermode.

Main outcome measures

Pain ratings were measured on a visual analog scale at 10-second intervals over 2 minutes of thermal pain stimulation.

Results

There were no significant changes in thermal sensitivity, pain thresholds, or pain ratings for either heat or cold after 30 minutes of exercise at 75% of V̇o2max.

Conclusions

Pain perception to thermal stimuli was unaltered after 30 minutes of exercise at 75% of V̇o2max, an intensity and duration of exercise previously shown to alter pain perception to electric and mechanical stimuli.

Section snippets

Participants

A total of 14 male and female volunteers participated in the 2 portions of the study (table 1). Exclusion criteria included known cardiac, pulmonary, or metabolic disorders, diseases affecting sensory nerves, musculoskeletal disorders preventing safe participation in exercise, and pregnancy. In addition, people taking medications including anti-inflammatories, antihistamines, pain medications, or antidepressants were excluded.

Participants were provided with general information about the intent

Results

Figure 1 presents cold sensory threshold and cold pain threshold data for the 10 participants who completed series 1. Hot sensory threshold and hot pain threshold data are shown in figure 2. There were no significant differences among thermal tests before, 5 minutes after, and 30 minutes after exercise for cold sensory threshold (P=.81), cold pain threshold (P=.21), hot sensory threshold (P=.13), or hot pain threshold (P=.19).

Figure 3 presents thermal pain ratings for the 14 subjects that

Discussion

This study was designed to investigate the influence of aerobic exercise on thermal pain perception. Thirty minutes of exercise at 75% of V̇o2max, an intensity and duration of exercise shown to alter pain perception to electric and mechanical stimuli,2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14 did not significantly alter sensory threshold, pain threshold, or pain ratings to hot or cold stimuli. These results suggest that exercise-induced analgesia is dependent on the type of painful stimulus used.

It was somewhat

Conclusions

No significant changes in sensory threshold, pain threshold, or pain ratings in response to either hot or cold stimuli were found after 30 minutes of exercise at 75% of V̇o2max. Because this duration and intensity of exercise have been shown to elicit exercise-induced analgesia to mechanical and electric stimuli, the results of our study indicate that alterations in pain perception after exercise may be dependent on the type of painful stimulus that is applied.

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    Supported by the Rehabilitation R&D Service, Department of Veterans Affairs (grant no. F1849P), and the Physical Medicine Research Foundation’s Woodbridge Grants and Awards Program.

    No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors(s) or upon any organization with which the author(s) is/are associated.

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