The Role of Exercises in Pain Perception - Research Paper Example

Name of student) (Course code+name) (Professor’s name) (Name of the University) THE ROLE OF EXERCISES IN PAIN PERCEPTION Abstract Pain management programs in most hospitals and therapist places have always been recommending exercise as one of the ways to change pain perceptions in most people who are experiencing different pain related problems. Many researchers including Arbogast, Kotlyne and Hofman among others have recommended exercise as one of the ways of attention diversion in patients experiencing pain. This study intends to examine the relationship between exercise and pain threshold and exercise and pain tolerance rates in patients. The target group or the participants for this study include 13 students who have volunteered themselves from the tutor group. The participants consist of eleven female and two males having a mean age of 20 and 21 respectively. The variables under study are pain threshold and pain tolerance against exercise. The methodology used in the study is experimental approach. The findings shows that exercise affect pain threshold and pain tolerance rates among patience. The researcher concluded that exercise influences pain perception in people hence it is in concurrent with the most common recommendation of the most physicians on patience who do experience pain mostly. Background of the study Most pain management programs recommend exercises which are continuous (Koltyn and Arbogast, 1998). The most common types of exercise being recommended include aerobic exercise, resistance exercise, and some combine both resistance and aerobic exercise. Koltyn and Arbogast, (1998) conducted a research to ascertain the relationship between analgesic and exercise. The result indicated that aerobic exercise is connected with increase in pain threshold and decreases pain rating. In the other study by Koltyn, (2000) on the role of exercise in pain perception, the findings revealed that there are changes in pain perception during and after the exercise. The commonly recommended exercise include cycling, running, playing football and basketball. Pain threshold which simply refers the point at which a person identifies a stimulus as painful and the pain tolerance normally increases during and after exercise. Furthermore the intensity of pain stimulus also rates lower and after the exercise. 1.2 Objectives of the study The main objective of this research is to determine the role of exercise in pain perception in human beings Specific objectives i. To determine the relationship between exercise and pain threshold ii. To determine the relationship between exercise and pain tolerance 1.3 The study hypothesis The research work is guided by the following hypothesis i. H01 there is no relationship between exercise and pain threshold ii. H02 there is no relationship between exercise and pain tolerance 2.0 Literature Review Hoffman et al (2005) also notes that the phenomenon of analgesia induced by exercise has latent clinical significance for individuals with pain. The present study demonstrated that individuals perceived a painful confined stimulus to be less painful following an exercise. The fact that the painful stimulus was far from the exercising muscles shows that the mechanism for the experimental exercise- induced analgesia translates to a systemic process. Consequently, the perception of pain resulting from a chronic pain source could also be positively influenced, at least shortly, by exercise. The authors argue that perhaps this phenomenon to a degree accounts for several improvements in disability and pain scores established from exercise programs in individuals with prolonged low back pain. From this study, it is, therefore, clear that analgesia induced from exercise can last for more than 30 minutes following an aerobic exercise in individuals with slight to reasonable levels of disability triggered by prolonged low back pain. In yet another study on pain perception by Tesarze et al (2011) the findings agree with the previous studies that there is a correlation between exercise and pain perception. The current study focused on athletes and concluded that these athletes show higher tolerance to pain compared to the general population. This study systematically studied dissimilarities in pain perception among athletes and normally active controls with the main outcome measures being pain tolerance and pain threshold. Studies by Koltyn and Arbogast (1998) also show that resistance exercise affects the perception of pain. The main goal of this investigation was to establish if resistance exercise altered the perception of pain. The authors note that although studies have established some support for exercise induced analgesic related to aerobic exercise, there has been little research in regard to resistance exercise. In their view, exercise may assist as effective, healthy, and comfortable pain management substitute, but not all individuals are capable of engaging in intense aerobic exercise. It is for this reason, therefore, that the authors suggest the importance of determining whether other methods of exercise are related with an analgesic effect. The results from their study indicate that pain threshold significantly increases, in combination with lesser pain ratings following resistance exercise. Although these variations in pain perception were evident a few minutes after the resistance exercise, the pain threshold returned to baseline levels by 15 minutes after the exercise. From these results, it is clear that resistance exercise can change pain perception; however, the duration of this change is shorter compared to the duration after an aerobic exercise. It is noteworthy that aerobic exercise portrayed an increase in pain threshold through exercise, as well as 30 minutes following the exercise. The pain thresholds return to baseline levels by one hour after exercise in aerobic exercise in contrast to 30 minutes in resistance exercise. 2.1 Conceptual frame work Independent variable Dependent variable 3.0 Methodology Participants The participants of this experiment were volunteers from the tutorial group who were requested to do exercise for at least 10 minutes using cold pressure and test the participant’s pain threshold and pain tolerance. The group consisted of female and male participants. Females were eleven (11) while male participants were only two (2). The standard deviation for female participants was 2.04050 while that of the male participants was 1.41421. The total participants were thirteen in number. The mean age for female participants were 20.1818 while that of male participants were 21.00 the total mean age of the participants was 20.3077. Materials Cold pressor tests will be used, two bowls for ice water, two thermometers and stopwatches in the building. These materials were used during the experiments by the researcher. Experiment procedure i. All participants were provided with instructions while the researcher had to set the temperature of the ice water to 1.5 and keep it within (+- 0.5) during the experiment. The water was manually stirred in order for the temperature to be consistent every 30 second. ii. Each and every participants threshold were measured and recorded down and also the pain tolerance. iii. Participants were asked to immerse their left hands into the cold water and hold it as long as they could. Then with their left hand in cold water, the participants were requested to report whenever they started to feel the pain and this was on individual basis. Three minutes was the maximum immersion duration iv. There was 5mins interval between each and every participant v. After the first experiment, participants were asked to run at their own pace for 10minutes and they were timed during the exercise. vi. Time 5 mins interval between the exercise and post exercise CPT for each participant. Result Both male and female participants paired in the first and second experiments with the mean of the first pair for threshold1 as 17.0015 and that of threshold 2 for the first pair as 19.4500. In the second pair tolerance1 mean is 32.4523 while that of the second pair of tolerance 2 is 71.0954. The mean deviation of the first pair threshold1 11.95194, threshold2 is having a standard deviation of 13.14041. In the second pair, tolerance1 standard deviation 14.37305 and the standard deviation tolerance2 is 64.80421. These outcomes are shown in the mean table in the result section The p- value for threshold-0.731 and that of tolerance p is -2.339. That beta for threshold is 2.44846 while that of tolerance is 38.64308. The confidence level is 0.05. Discussion The pairing of the participants in the first experiment of threshold where the cold water was used in testing pain threshold and how it affects pain perception and the findings shows that mean of the threshold1 17.0015 and standard deviation of 11.95194 showing consistency with little deviation, threshold2 giving mean f 19.4500 and deviation of 13.14041 also showing consistency with little deviation. In the second pair, tolerance1 gives mean of 32.455 with standard deviation 14.37305 showing inconsistency with high deviation rate. In tolerance2 mean is 71.059 and standard deviation is 64.80421 showing consistency and small deviation of mean age of the participants. In testing of the first hypothesis which is null hypothesis stating that there is no relationship between exercise and pain threshold. The H01 is not approved since the beta is -2.44846 which less than 0.05 which is the critical value is. It can therefore be concluded that exercise affect the pain threshold of people. In the second hypothesis which states that there is no relationship between exercise and pain tolerance, the null hypothesis rejected since the B-value which is -38.64308 is less than the critical value which is 0.05. The p-value is 0.731 showing high that the threshold is statistically significance hence it is true to say that exercise affect the threshold and the same applies to the tolerance level. These findings on the pain threshold, as well as pain tolerance, are similar to the literature on chronic pain control. The implication here is that exercise aids pain patients improve the quality of their life, but does not reduce the real amount of pain they feel, as they are able to tolerate such pain better which actually disapproves the hypothesis of the study hence rejecting them. The results from this study indicate that pain threshold significantly increases, in combination with lesser pain ratings following resistance exercise. Although these variations in pain perception were evident a few minutes after the resistance exercise, the pain threshold returned to baseline levels by 10 minutes after the exercise. From these results, it is clear that resistance exercise can change pain perception; however, the duration of this change is shorter compared to the duration after an aerobic exercise. It is noteworthy that aerobic exercise portrayed an increase in pain threshold through exercise, as well as 30 minutes following the exercise. The pain thresholds return to baseline levels by one hour after exercise in aerobic exercise in contrast to 30 minutes in resistance exercise. Conclusion From the findings, we can conclude that exercise is able to change pain perception on patience more so if it is well timed and properly done. Exercise like running, playing football, aerobic exercises and many others are capable to change pain perception. Reference Hoffman, M. D., Shepanski, M. A., McKenzie, S. P. & Clifford, P. S. (2005). Experimentally induced pain perception is acutely reduced by aerobic exercise in people with chronic low back pain. Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development, 42 (2), 183–190. Koltyn K. F. (2000). Exercise-Induced Hypoalgesia and Intensity of Exercise. Sports Med, 32 (8), 477-487. Koltyn K. F. & Arbogast R W. (1998). Perception of pain after resistance exercise. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 32, 20–24. Tesarze J., Schuster A. K., Hartmann M., Gerhardt A. & Eich W. (2011). Pain Koltyn K. F. & Arbogast R W. (1998). Perception of pain after resistance exercise. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 32, 20–24. Tesarze J., Schuster A. K., Hartmann M., Gerhardt A. & Eich W. (2011). Pain perception in athletes compared to normally active controls: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Pain Journal, 153 (6), 1253-1262. Read More