Exercise and Chronic Pain

In a recent study presented at the American Academy of Pain Medicine 24th Annual Meeting physical exercise in chronic pain patients can have immediate and long-term benefits.

This really should come as no surprise but it seems we always need another study to reassure us of common sense.

A frequent co-morbid condition of chronic pain is being out-of-shape or if you prefer the medical term; physical deconditioning.

People with chronic pain don't want to exercise.

Decreases in pain, depression, and anxiety following treatment in a pain rehabilitation program have been well documented, but to date, no study has determined the immediate effects of brief exercise on these factors.

This study looked at the effect of a 3-week aerobic training program on physical conditioning and to assess the acute effects of a brief, 10-minute exercise protocol on pain, mood, and perceived exertion.

The final sample of 28 patients was lowered from 54 due to factors such as lack of motivation to exercise and fear of exercise.

All 28 who participated had an immediate perception change about exercise upon starting the program.

Measures of heart rate, mood, pain, and perceived exertion were obtained and on average, patients received 5 hours of conditioning per week, in addition to routine daily activities.

Patients showed a statistically significant reduction in exercise-induced heart rate increases from admission to 3 weeks into the study.

The brief exercise protocol also produced significant immediate antidepressant and anxiolytic effects.

So the bottom line was that the study suggests that relatively modest exercise leads to improved mood and physical capacity and also suggests that brief exercise is a safe, cost-free, nonpharmacologic strategy for immediately reducing depression and anxiety.

Thank God for those natural endorphins.

So what about the other 26 patients who lacked motivation or were fearful about exercise?

Can you say “couch potato”?