Is aerobic exercise useful to manage chronic pain?

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Several studies have shown the importance of biopsychosocial strategies, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies, to decrease pain in orofacial pain patients. The involvement of pain modulation during aerobic exercise contributes to the use of such modality as part of rehabilitation programs for chronic pain patients. Studies have shown that aerobic exercise may increase the level of several neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine and norepinephrine. The reality is that it activates endocannabinoid and endogenous opioid systems, involved in pain modulation. The effect of physical activity on pain perception is often called exercise-induced hypoalgesia. This study aimed at discussing the use of exercise-induced hypoalgesia as part of chronic pain management, including orofacial pain. CONTENTS: Comprehensive search on Pubmed, Medline, Web of Science and Scopus databases was carried out using the keywords: physical exercise, aerobic exercise, exercise-induced hypoalgesia, exercise-induced analgesia and orofacial pain/chronic orofacial pain. CONCLUSION: Exercise does not need to be of high-intensity to have an effect on pain management. Although there is evidence that some chronic pain patients may have the capacity to exercise at intensities and durations that appear to be required to elicit exercise-induced hypoalgesia in healthy subjects, the exercise tolerance of other unhealthy populations requires study. Additional research is needed to clarify and expand the understanding of the mechanisms responsible for exercise-induced hypoalgesia and how it can be used in chronic pain conditions such as chronic orofacial pain.

Prevalência De Dor Crônica Em Acadêmicos De Uma Instituição De Ensino Superior Privada

“…Esse resultado pode se justificar no fato de que se trata de um público com elevado grau de instrução, além disso, mais de 50% dos avaliados praticam atividade física regular. Em conjunto, educação e prática regular de atividade física são apontados como fatores que podem aumentar a resiliência a dor, além de minimizar as complicações e potencializar o tratamento desse fenômeno clínico biopsicossocial [14][15]25 .…”

Conhecimento dos acadêmicos de fisioterapia sobre o manejo da dor

“…Já por outro lado, o exercício físico apresenta evidências e indicações. Por outro lado, fica claro que a literatura ainda é pouco explorada quanto à prescrição dos exercícios físicos e seus benefícios [22,24].…”

The Effect of Medical Exercise Therapy on Pressure Sensitivity in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Cohort Pilot Study

“…This phenomenon has been termed exercise-induced analgesia or exercise-induced hypoalgesia [4]. Hypoalgesia is a decreased sensitivity to painful impact [29], and hypoalgesia can probably be activated at both central and spinal levels during physical exercise. One anticipated mechanism explaining hypoalgesia during exercise is blocking nociceptors from liberated opioids [5].…”