Exercising non-painful muscles can induce hypoalgesia in individuals with chronic pain
Tags: chronic pain, exercise, pain problems, self-treatment, treatment
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
Almost 40 years ago, Black et al. published the first article on the effect of physical exercise on pain sensitivity in humans illustrating that a period of running significantly reduced the pain sensitivity. This phenomenon also known as ‘exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH)’ is now well established in pain-free subjects, and it is typically demonstrated as reduced pain sensitivity in response to exercise. Recently, the influence of different types of exercises as well as the mechanisms underlying EIH has been investigated.
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Vaegter 2017 is about:
- “Exercise induced hypoalgesia is elicited by isometric, but not aerobic exercise in individuals with chronic whiplash associated disorders,” Smith et al, Scand J Pain, 2017.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Topical glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) and eccentric exercises in the treatment of mid-portion achilles tendinopathy (the NEAT trial): a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Kirwan 2024 Br J Sports Med.
- Placebo analgesia in physical and psychological interventions: Systematic review and meta-analysis of three-armed trials. Hohenschurz-Schmidt 2024 Eur J Pain.
- Recovery trajectories in common musculoskeletal complaints by diagnosis contra prognostic phenotypes. Aasdahl 2021 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
- Cannabidiol (CBD) products for pain: ineffective, expensive, and with potential harms. Moore 2023 J Pain.
- Moderators of the effect of therapeutic exercise for knee and hip osteoarthritis: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis. Holden 2023 The Lancet Rheumatology.