ArticlePloS one2023
Longitudinal relationships between habitual physical activity and pain tolerance in the general population.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physiological and autonomic responses to intermittent low-lung-volume apnoea and pain sensitivity: A randomized controlled pilot trial.Experimental physiology · 2026Trial
- Hypoalgesic effects, safety, and feasibility of a 6-minute high-lung-volume static apnea intervention.The Korean journal of pain · 2026Article
- Cardiorespiratory fitness and pain severity: Longitudinal associations from the general population-The HUNT study.Pain reports · 2026Article
- An attention-demanding hunting paradigm engages the superior colliculus-zona incerta circuit mediating analgesia in male mice.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Trauma and physical pain: an urban-rural comparison of sexually abused girls in Burundi.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Perceived barriers to and facilitators of physical activity, using the COM-B model for behavioural change, in people with chronic pain: a qualitative evaluation of patient and stakeholder perspectives.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Pain reduction through combined spinal cord stimulation and exercise therapy after spinal extradural arachnoid cystectomy: a case report.JA clinical reports · 2025Article
- Do Physical Activities Prevent the Occurrence of Bothersome Pain?Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2025Article
- Physical Activity and Pain Perception in Residents Under Conditions of Chronic Hypoxia.Oxygen (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Article
- Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Is it an Effective Treatment for Cancer Pain?Pain and therapy · 2025Review
- Exercise before braces: the mediating effect of pain on the association between physical activity and self-efficacy.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Analysis of Current Status and Influencing Factors of Psychological Distress Tolerance in Liver Cancer Patients after Interventional Therapy.Psychiatry and clinical psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- The challenge of pharmacotherapy for musculoskeletal pain: an overview of unmet needs.Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2024Review
- Response to experimental cold-induced pain discloses a resistant category among endurance athletes, with a distinct profile of pain-related behavior and GABAergic EEG markers: a case-control preliminary study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Physical activity (PA) might influence the risk or progression of chronic pain through pain tolerance. Hence, we aimed to assess whether habitual leisure-time PA level and PA change affects pain tolerance longitudinally in the population. Our sample (n = 10,732; 51% women) was gathered from the sixth (Tromsø6, 2007-08) and seventh (Tromsø7, 2015-16) waves of the prospective population-based Tromsø Study, Norway. Level of leisure-time PA (sedentary, light, moderate, or vigorous) was derived from questionnaires; experimental pain tolerance was measured by the cold-pressor test (CPT). We used ordinary, and multiple-adjusted mixed, Tobit regression to assess 1) the effect of longitudinal PA change on CPT tolerance at follow-up, and 2) whether a change in pain tolerance over time varied with level of LTPA. We found that participants with high consistent PA levels over the two surveys (Tromsø6 and Tromsø7) had significantly higher tolerance than those staying sedentary (20.4 s. (95% CI: 13.7, 27.1)). Repeated measurements show that light (6.7 s. (CI 3.4, 10.0)), moderate (CI 14.1 s. (9.9, 18.3)), and vigorous (16.3 s. (CI 6.0, 26.5)) PA groups had higher pain tolerance than sedentary, with non-significant interaction showed slightly falling effects of PA over time. In conclusion, being physically active at either of two time points measured 7-8 years apart was associated with higher pain tolerance compared to being sedentary at both time-points. Pain tolerance increased with higher total activity levels, and more for those who increased their activity level during follow-up. This indicates that not only total PA amount matters but also the direction of change. PA did not significantly moderate pain tolerance change over time, though estimates suggested a slightly falling effect possibly due to ageing. These results support increased PA levels as a possible non-pharmacological pathway towards reducing or preventing chronic pain.
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