Background & Aims
Exercise-induced hypoalgesia is a reduction in pain that occurs during or after exercise. Meta-analyses have shown that exercise interventions can reduce pain intensity when compared to usual care. However, few studies have focused on individual comparisons rather than simultaneous analysis of exercise treatments, which would allow for ranking of their effectiveness. The objective of this network meta-analysis was to examine the comparative impact of various exercise types on healthy adults.
Methods
We systematically reviewed studies published up to June 2022 that examined experimentally induced pain in healthy people before and during/after a single bout of exercise. This study followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Studies were included if the population consist of healthy adults. Both electronic and manual literature searches were conducted to identify studies that encompassed at least one treatment arm involving the application of exercise for pain alleviation. Studies that measured the pressure pain threshold as an outcome were included. Data extracted from chosen articles were utilized to conduct a network meta-analysis. A control group without exercise intervention served as the reference group.
Results
We identified 65 trials involving 2,200 healthy individuals. The statistically significant difference of 0.46 (95%CI: 0.09 to 0.82) between the isometric exercise group and the no exercise group was observed in healthy individuals. Aerobic exercise showed a statistically significant improvement in exercise-induced hypoalgesia, with a difference of 0.45 (95% CI: 0.12 to 0.78).
Conclusions
In healthy individuals, both isometric and aerobic exercise demonstrated significant hypoalgesic effects when compared to the control group.
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Presenting Author
Chih-Chin Lai
Poster Authors
Topics
- Evidence, Clinical Trials, Systematic Review, Guidelines, and Implementation Science