Local Pain Dynamics during Constant Exhaustive Exercise

PLoS One. 2015 Sep 30;10(9):e0137895. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137895. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to delineate the topological dynamics of pain and discomfort during constant exercise performed until volitional exhaustion. Eleven physical education students were tested while cycling and running at a "hard" intensity level (e.g., corresponding to Borg's RPE (6-20) = 15). During the tests, participants reported their discomfort and pain on a body map every 15s. "Time on task" for each participant was divided into five equal non-overlapping temporal windows within which their ratings were considered for analysis. The analyses revealed that the number of body locations with perceived pain and discomfort increased throughout the five temporal windows until reaching the mean (± SE) values of 4.2 ± 0.7 and 4.1 ± 0.6 in cycling and running, respectively. The dominant locations included the quadriceps and hamstrings during cycling and quadriceps and chest during running. In conclusion, pain seemed to spread throughout the body during constant cycling and running performed up to volitional exhaustion with differences between cycling and running in the upper body but not in the lower body dynamics.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Bicycling / physiology
  • Exercise / physiology*
  • Exercise Test
  • Fatigue / etiology
  • Fatigue / pathology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Pain / etiology
  • Pain / pathology*
  • Physical Endurance / physiology
  • Physical Exertion / physiology*
  • Running / physiology
  • Time Factors
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Institut Nacional d’Educació Física de Catalunya (INEFC), the Generalitat de Catalunya and Secretaria General de l’Esport i Departament d’Innovació Universitats i Empresa. Agnė Slapšinskaitė is the recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from the Agency for the Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR). We would like to thank TECNO SPORT for the technical support. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.