The effect of acute voluntary exercise session on pain threshold and tolerance in middle-aged tennis players

Year 2017, Volume: 3 Issue: 4, 153 - 160, 15.12.2017

Nurlan Hasanlı Sami Altuntaş Mehmet Zeki Sarı , Yaşar Gül Özkaya

https://doi.org/10.18826/useeabd.325779

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this study is to examine the alterations in pain threshold and tolerance of middle-aged persons those who regularly play tennis at rest and following acute voluntary exercise.

Methods: Fifty-nine recreationally-active persons aged 30-60 years participated in this study. Women and men separately were divided into 10-years groups, with 30-39, 40-49 and 50-59 years of age. Pressure pain threshold (PPT) and pain tolerance (PPT) measurements were recorded at rest and immediately following an acute exercise. PPT and PPTO values were measured from the biceps muscle of dominant arm by using a digital algometer. Singles tennis match was used as an acute voluntary exercise session, the duration of each tennis match (min) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded.

Results: No statistical differences were found in exercise duration or RPE scores among groups. RPE scores showed that tennis match played by participants was corresponded a strenuous exercise session. In all age groups, no statistical differences were found in baseline PPT or PPTO results in women or men. PPT and PPTO values were increased following exercise both in women and men. Although post-exercise PPT results were similar among age groups of women and men, PPTO values of men were found to be higher in all age groups of men in comparison with the same age groups of women. 

Conclusion: In conclusion, the present study revealed that one bout of voluntary exercise session resulted in gender-dependent differences in pain tolerance in middle-aged participants, and those middle-aged men were tolerated of pain at higher pressure levels following exercise in comparison with women at the same age.   

Keywords

Exercise-induced hypoalgesia, Tennis, Age, Gender, Nociception

References

• Aidman, E. V. and Woollard, S. (2003). The influence of self-reported exercise addiction on acute emotional and physiological responses to brief exercise deprivation. Psychol. Sport Exerc. 4, 225-226.
• Bement, M. K. H., Rasiarmos, R. L., DiCapo, J. M., Lewis, A., Keller, M. L., Harkins, A. L., & Hunter, S. K. (2009). The role of the menstrual cycle phase in pain perception before and after an isometric fatiguing contraction. European journal of applied physiology, 106(1), 105-112.
• Borg, G. A. (1982). Psychophysical bases of perceived exertion. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 14(5), 377-381.
• Brellenthin, A. G., Crombie, K. M., Cook, D. B., Sehgal, N., & Koltyn, K. F. (2016). Psychosocial influences on exercise-induced hypoalgesia. Pain Medicine, 18(3), 538-550.
• DeWall, C. N., & Baumeister, R. F. (2006). Alone but feeling no pain: Effects of social exclusion on physical pain tolerance and pain threshold, affective forecasting, and interpersonal empathy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(1), 1.
• Edwards, R. R., Fillingim, R. B., & Ness, T. J. (2003). Age-related differences in endogenous pain modulation: a comparison of diffuse noxious inhibitory controls in healthy older and younger adults. Pain, 101(1), 155-165.
• Ge, H. Y., Nie, H., Graven‐Nielsen, T., Danneskiold‐Samsøe, B., & Arendt‐Nielsen, L. (2012). Descending pain modulation and its interaction with peripheral sensitization following sustained isometric muscle contraction in fibromyalgia. European Journal of Pain, 16(2), 196-203.
• Gibson, S. J., & Helme, R. D. (2001). Age-related differences in pain perception and report. Clinics in Geriatric Medicine, 17(3), 433-56.
• Gündoğdu, A., Özdemir, Ö., Pamuk, Ö., Hindistan, E., & Özkaya, G. (2014). The effect of simultaneously performed cognitive task and physical exercise on pressure pain threshold and tolerance in athletes. International Journal of Science Culture and Sport (IntJSCS), 2(6), 159-169.
• Gurevich M, Kohn PM, Davis C (1994). Exercise-induced analgesia and the role of reactivity in pain sensitivity. Journal of Sports Sciences, 12: 549-559.
• Hoeger Bement, M. K., Rasiarmos, R. L., DiCapo, J. M., Lewis, A., Keller, M. L., Harkins, A. L., & Hunter, S. K. (2009). The role of the menstrual cycle phase in pain perception before and after an isometric fatiguing contraction. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 106(1), 105-112.
• Hoeger, B. M., Dicapo, J., Rasiarmos, R., & Hunter, S. K. (2008). Dose response of isometric contractions on pain perception in healthy adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 40(11), 1880-1889.
• Hoffman, M. D., Shepanski, M. A., MacKenzie, S. P., & Clifford, P. S. (2005). Experimentally induced pain perception is acutely reduced by aerobic exercise in people with chronic low back pain. Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development. 42(2), 183.
• Hoffman, M. D., Shepanski, M. A., Ruble, S. B., Valic, Z., Buckwalter, J. B., & Clifford, P. S. (2004). Intensity and duration threshold for aerobic exercise-induced analgesia to pressure pain. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 85(7), 1183-1187.
• Hoffmann, P., Terenius, L., & Thorén, P. (1990). Cerebrospinal fluid immunoreactive β-endorphin concentration is increased by voluntary exercise in the spontaneously hypertensive rat. Regulatory peptides, 28(2), 233-239.
• Kadetoff, D., & Kosek, E. (2007). The effects of static muscular contraction on blood pressure, heart rate, pain ratings and pressure pain thresholds in healthy individuals and patients with fibromyalgia. European Journal of Pain, 11(1), 39-39.
• Kaplan, A. K. S., Uğurlu, S. B., Pamuk, Ö., Özdemir, Ö., Hindistan, E., & Özkaya, G. (2014). Effect of sport massage on pressure pain threshold and tolerance in athletes under eccentric exercise. International Journal of Science Culture and Sport (IntJSCS), 2(6), 136-146.
• Kemppainen, P. E. N. T. T. I., Hämäläinen, O. L. A. V. I., & Könönen, M. A. U. N. O. (1998). Different effects of physical exercise on cold pain sensitivity in fighter pilots with and without the history of acute in-flight neck pain attacks. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 30(4), 577-582.
• Koltyn K. F. (2002). Exercise-induced hypoalgesia and intensity of exercise. Sports Medicine, 32(8):477–87.
• Koltyn, K. (2000). Analgesia following exercise. Sports Medicine, 29(2), 85-98.
• Kovacs, M. S. (2007). Tennis physiology. Sports Medicine, 37(3), 189-198.
• Leasure, J.L., & Jones, M. (2008). Forced and voluntary exercise differentially affect brain and behaviour. Neuroscience, 156: 456–65. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.07.041.
• Lemley, K. J., Drewek, B., Hunter, S. K., & Hoeger, B. M. (2014). Pain relief after isometric exercise is not task-dependent in older men and women. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 46(1), 185-191.
• Meeus, M., Roussel, N. A., Truijen, S., & Nijs, J. (2010). Reduced pressure pain thresholds in response to exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome but not in chronic low back pain: an experimental study. Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 42(9), 884-890.
• Mendez-Villanueva, A., Fernandez-Fernandez, J., & Bishop, D. (2007b). Exercise-induced homeostatic perturbations provoked by singles tennis match play with reference to development of fatigue. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 41(11), 717-722.
• Mendez-Villanueva, A., Fernandez-Fernandez, J., Bishop, D., Fernandez-Garcia, B., & Terrados, N. (2007a). Activity patterns, blood lactate concentrations and ratings of perceived exertion during a professional singles tennis tournament. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 41(5), 296-300.
• Moraska, A., Deak, T., Spencer, R. L., Roth, D., & Fleshner, M. (2000). Treadmill running produces both positive and negative physiological adaptations in Sprague-Dawley rats. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 279(4), R1321-R1329.
• Naugle, K. M., Fillingim, R. B., & Riley, J. L. (2012). A meta-analytic review of the hypoalgesic effects of exercise. The Journal of Pain, 13(12), 1139-1150.
• Novas, A. M. P., Rowbottom, D. G., & Jenkins, D. G. (2003). A practical method of estimating energy expenditure during tennis play. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 6(1), 40-50.
• Ozkaya, M.S., Aksoy-Gundogdu, A., Seyran, M., Hindistan, I.E., Pamuk, O., Ozkaya, Y.G. (2014). Effect of exogenous melatonin administration on pain threshold in exercise trained rats under light-induced functional pinealectomy. Biological Rhythm Research DOI:10.1080/09291016.2014.923619.
• Ploughman, M., Granter-Button, S., Chernenko, G., Attwood, Z., Tucker, B. A., Mearow, K. M., & Corbett, D. (2007). Exercise intensity influences the temporal profile of growth factors involved in neuronal plasticity following focal ischemia. Brain research, 1150: 207-216.
• Racine, M., Tousignant-Laflamme, Y., Kloda, L. A., Dion, D., Dupuis, G., & Choinière, M. (2012a). A systematic literature review of 10years of research on gender/gender and experimental pain perception–Part 1: Are there really differences between women and men?. Pain, 153(3), 602-618.
• Racine, M., Tousignant-Laflamme, Y., Kloda, L. A., Dion, D., Dupuis, G., & Choinière, M. (2012b). A systematic literature review of 10years of research on gender/gender and pain perception–Part 2: Do biopsychosocial factors alter pain sensitivity differently in women and men?. Pain, 153(3), 619-635.
• Rainville, P., Feine, J. S., Bushnell, M. C., & Duncan, G. H. (1992). A psychophysical comparison of sensory and affective responses to four modalities of experimental pain. Somatosensory & Motor Research, 9(4), 265-277.
• Rhodes, R. E. and Smith, N. E. (2006). Personality correlates of physical activity: a review and meta-analysis. Br. J. Sports Med. 40, 958-965.
• Riley III, J. L., Robinson, M. E., Wise, E. A., Myers, C. D., & Fillingim, R. B. (1998). Sex differences in the perception of noxious experimental stimuli: a meta-analysis. Pain, 74(2), 181-187.
• Ring C, Edwards L, Kavussanu M (2008). Effects of isometric exercise on pain are mediated by blood pressure. Biological Psychology, 78:123-128.
• Ruble S, Hoffman M, Shepanski M, Valic Z, Buckwalter J, Clifford P (2005). Thermal pain perception after aerobic exercise. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 86:1019-1023.
• Yazıcı, A., & Mohammadi, M. (2017). The effect of pilates exercise on improvement of functional tests in young male with patello-femoral pain syndrome. International Journal of Sport, Exercise & Training Sciences, 3 (2), 39-43. DOI: 10.18826/useeabd.292382
• Wandner, L. D., Scipio, C. D., Hirsh, A. T., Torres, C. A., & Robinson, M. E. (2012). The perception of pain in others: how gender, race, and age influence pain expectations. The Journal of Pain, 13(3), 220-227.