ORIGINAL ARTICLE  EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2019 October;59(10):1635-9

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.19.09791-3

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Pain sensitivity and athletic performance

Lior ZELLER ^{1, 2} ✉, Nadav SHIMONI ², Alina VODONOS ^{2, 3}, Iftach SAGY ^{2, 3, 4}, Leonid BARSKI ^{2, 4}, Dan BUSKILA ^{2, 5}

¹ Department of Medicine C, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel; ² Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel; ³ Clinical Research Center, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel; ⁴ Department of Medicine F, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel; ⁵ Department of Medicine H, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel

BACKGROUND: The objective of the study is to determine whether higher pain thresholds are associated with better performance in long-distance runners.
METHODS: Seventy participants, divided into groups of fast and non-fast runners according to peak results in a 10km run. Main Outcome Measures, Cold pressor test.
RESULTS: Of the 70 participants, 28 were in the fastest group (less than 39 minutes in a 10km run) and 42 in the non-fast group. The faster group was characterized with older age (34.0±8.5 vs. 29.5±5.7, P=0.01), greater mean weekly running time (5.5 [0-17]) vs. 2 [0-10], P<0.001), and more years of running (10 [1.5-34.0] vs. 7 [0-20, P=0.05]). In a multivariable analysis longer cold pressor time was associated with faster 10Km run (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00-1.01).
CONCLUSIONS: It seems that higher pain thresholds play an important role in the superior ability of long distance runners.

KEY WORDS: Pain threshold; Athletic performance; Exercise tolerance