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Årnes AP, Fjeld MK, Stigum H, Nielsen CS, Stubhaug A, Johansen A, Hopstock LA, Morseth B, Wilsgaard T, Steingrímsdóttir ÓA. Does pain tolerance mediate the effect of physical activity on chronic pain in the general population? The Tromsø Study. Pain 2024:00006396-990000000-00543. [PMID: 38442413 DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/28/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024]
Abstract
ABSTRACT Knowledge is needed regarding mechanisms acting between physical activity (PA) and chronic pain. We investigated whether cold pain tolerance mediates an effect of leisure-time physical activity on the risk of chronic pain 7 to 8 years later using consecutive surveys of the population-based Tromsø Study. We included participants with information on baseline leisure-time PA (LTPA) and the level of cold pressor-assessed cold pain tolerance, who reported chronic pain status at follow-up as any of the following: chronic pain for ≥3 months, widespread chronic pain, moderate-to-severe chronic pain, or widespread moderate-to-severe chronic pain. We included 6834 participants (52% women; mean age, 55 years) in counterfactual mediation analyses. Prevalence decreased with severity, for example, 60% for chronic pain vs 5% for widespread moderate-to-severe chronic pain. People with one level higher LTPA rating (light to moderate or moderate to vigorous) at baseline had lower relative risk (RR) of 4 chronic pain states 7 to 8 years later. Total RR effect of a 1-level LTPA increase was 0.95 (0.91-1.00), that is, -5% decreased risk. Total effect RR for widespread chronic pain was 0.84 (0.73-0.97). Indirect effect for moderate-to-severe chronic pain was statistically significant at RR 0.993 (0.988-0.999); total effect RR was 0.91 (0.83-0.98). Statistically significantly mediated RR for widespread moderate-to-severe chronic pain was 0.988 (0.977-0.999); total effect RR was 0.77 (0.64-0.94). This shows small mediation of the effect of LTPA through pain tolerance on 2 moderate-to-severe chronic pain types. This suggests pain tolerance to be one possible mechanism through which PA modifies the risk of moderate-to-severe chronic pain types with and without widespread pain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anders Pedersen Årnes
- Department of Pain, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Mats Kirkeby Fjeld
- Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Hein Stigum
- Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Norway
| | - Christopher Sivert Nielsen
- Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Pain Management and Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Audun Stubhaug
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Pain Management and Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Aslak Johansen
- Department of Pain, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- Department of Clinical Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | | | - Bente Morseth
- School of Sport Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Tom Wilsgaard
- Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
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Årnes AP, Nielsen CS, Stubhaug A, Fjeld MK, Johansen A, Morseth B, Strand BH, Wilsgaard T, Steingrímsdóttir ÓA. Longitudinal relationships between habitual physical activity and pain tolerance in the general population. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0285041. [PMID: 37224163 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023] Open
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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Affiliation(s)
| | - Christopher Sievert Nielsen
- Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
- Division of Emergencies and Critical Care, Department of Pain Management and Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Audun Stubhaug
- Division of Emergencies and Critical Care, Department of Pain Management and Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Mats Kirkeby Fjeld
- Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
| | - Aslak Johansen
- Department of Pain, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Bente Morseth
- School of Sport Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Bjørn Heine Strand
- Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
- The Norwegian National Centre for Ageing and Health, Vestfold Hospital Trust Norway, Tønsberg, Norway
| | - Tom Wilsgaard
- Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
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Fjeld MK, Årnes AP, Engdahl B, Morseth B, Hopstock LA, Horsch A, Stubhaug A, Strand BH, Nielsen CS, Steingrímsdóttir ÓA. Consistent pattern between physical activity measures and chronic pain levels: the Tromsø Study 2015 to 2016. Pain 2023; 164:838-847. [PMID: 36083173 PMCID: PMC10026831 DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
ABSTRACT Epidemiological literature on the relationship between physical activity and chronic pain is scarce and inconsistent. Hence, our aim was to assess the relationship applying comprehensive methodology, including self-reported and accelerometer measures of physical activity and different severity levels of chronic pain. We used data from the Tromsø Study (2015-2016). All residents in the municipality, aged 40 years and older were invited to participate (n = 32,591, 51% women). A total of 21,083 (53%) women reported on questionnaires. Additionally, 6778 participants (54% women) were invited to wear accelerometers (6125 with complete measurements). Our exposure measures were self-reported leisure time physical activity, exercise frequency, duration, and intensity and 2 accelerometer measures (steps per day and minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day). Outcome measurements were chronic pain and moderate-to-severe chronic pain. We used Poisson regression to estimate chronic pain prevalence and prevalence ratios for each physical activity measure, with adjustments for sex, age, education level, smoking history, and occupational physical activity. Our main analyses showed an inverse dose-response relationship between all physical activity measures and both severity measures of chronic pain, except that the dose-response relationship with exercise duration was only found for moderate-to-severe pain. All findings were stronger for the moderate-to-severe pain outcomes than for chronic pain. Robustness analyses gave similar results as the main analyses. We conclude that an inverse dose-response association between physical activity and chronic pain is consistent across measures. To summarize, higher levels of physical activity is associated with less chronic pain and moderate-to-severe chronic pain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mats Kirkeby Fjeld
- Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | | | - Bo Engdahl
- Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
| | - Bente Morseth
- School of Sport Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Laila Arnesdatter Hopstock
- Departments of Department of Health and Care Sciences, UiT The Artic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Alexander Horsch
- Division of Emergencies and Critical Care, Department of Pain Management and Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Audun Stubhaug
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Division of Emergencies and Critical Care, Department of Pain Management and Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Bjørn Heine Strand
- Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
- Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Ageing and Health, Tønsberg, Norway
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Christopher Sivert Nielsen
- Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
- Division of Emergencies and Critical Care, Department of Pain Management and Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ólöf Anna Steingrímsdóttir
- Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
- Division of Emergencies and Critical Care, Department of Research and Development, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
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