The “catastrophic” pain associated with a bit of exercise, a more sedentary lifestyle-fitness

Getting enough exercise plays an important role in managing chronic pain. However, how people deal with pain can have a big impact on whether they get enough physical activity or whether they sit longer.

According to a study by a team led by researchers in Penn State, people with knee osteoarthritis are more painful than usual when the pain exaggerates “powerlessness” or “despair” more than usual. Then, I found that the possibility of physical activity decreased later in the day. It contributes to the domino effect of sedentary behavior and makes the pain worse.

Results published in a recent journal, PAIN, have potential implications for pain management and health in the elderly, and catastrophic pain could be an important therapeutic target for interventions and pain treatment, researchers say Suggests that.

“The catastrophic reduction in daily pain may help older patients become more active and sedentary on a daily basis. This is due to their chronic pain state, physical function, and overall It improves health and helps reduce the likelihood of hospitalization, institutionalization, and health care costs in the long run,” said Assistant Professor Ruixue Zhaoyang.

According to the researchers, chronic or persistent pain affects 60-75% of older Americans, and pain management strategies such as engaging in sufficient physical activity are an important part of the lives of many older people. It has become.

Zhaoyang said pain was catastrophic-thinking patterns such as “pain is so bad that it never gets better” or “pain can no longer stand” suggests that some older people try to avoid exercise. Avoid the pain you may. However, if exercise is postponed too long, it can lead to depression helices and worse pain.

“Continuing physical activity is one of the most important self-management strategies for patients with chronic pain. But many chronic pain patients avoid physical activity that can be done. Our research shows that pain management We focused on one important psychological factor that explains why patients avoid physical activity despite the importance of: Lynn Martire, a professor of human development and family studies.

In the study, the researchers used data from 143 elderly people with knee osteoarthritis. Participants kept a daily diary and wore an accelerometer (a wearable device for measuring physical activity) for 22 days. Each morning, participants reported how they felt about the pain of the day and accelerometers gathered information about physical activity and sedentary behavior.

After analyzing the data, researchers found that in the morning when participants were more distressed about pain than usual, they were eventually engaged in moderate to less active physical activity.

In addition, researchers have found that catastrophic morning pain brings more time to sedentary behavior the same day and the next day. Similarly, spending sedentary time increases catastrophic pain the next day.

“One particularly interesting finding is that the detrimental effects of catastrophic thinking about pain are independent of the pain experience itself. In other words, the patient’s own pain, not the level of pain experienced. How we think about it had a stronger impact on our daily physical activities,” said Zhaoyang.

The results, according to Martile, suggest that the destruction of pain may initiate a potentially harmful cycle-exacerbated pain in the morning can lead to avoidance of physical activity, leading to the next day of pain. Exacerbate the deterioration.

The researchers added that these findings suggest that catastrophic pain could be a good target for interventions aimed at managing chronic pain and increasing physical activity.

“Our research demonstrated that patients’ devastating thoughts can change from day to day and can be modified by everyday behavioral behavior. Future interventions will use mobile technology. Better outcomes by monitoring patient activity levels in daily life and providing just-in-time adaptive interventions for catastrophic pain in patients to reduce sedentary behaviour. not.

The researchers added that their work was specifically aimed at people with knee osteoarthritis, but catastrophic events can occur with any type of pain. They said the implications of their findings could potentially apply to pain management in patients with other types of chronic pain.

(This article has been published from the telegraph agency feed with no changes to the text. Only the headings have changed.)

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