Exposure to Contact Sports Results in Maintained Performance During Experimental Pain

Abstract

During pain, motor performance tends to decline. However, athletes who engage in contact sports are able to maintain performance despite the inherent pain that accompanies participation. This may be the result of being challenged rather than threatened by pain; adaptive coping strategies; habituation to pain; or finding pain less bothersome. This study aimed to measure performance of a novel motor task both in pain and not in pain within experienced contact athletes (n = 40), novice contact athletes (n = 40), and noncontact athletes (n = 40). Challenge and threat perceptions were manipulated during the pain condition and measures of pain tolerance, perception, coping styles, and bothersomeness were taken. Results indicated that contact athletes, regardless of experience, were able to maintain their performance during painful stimulation. Noncontact athletes, conversely, performed significantly worse during pain stimulation. In addition, contact athletes tended to be more challenged and the noncontact athletes more threatened within the pain condition. Experienced contact athletes demonstrated higher levels of pain tolerance and direct coping, and reported lower levels of pain bothersomeness and intensity than the other groups. The results suggest that even relatively brief exposure to contact sports may be enough to help maintain performance in pain. Being in a challenged state appears to be an important factor during performance in pain. Moreover, pain tolerance, intensity, and bothersomeness may differentiate novice and experienced athletes. Perspective: Exposure to voluntary pain and challenge states are associated with adaptive responses to pain. Motor task performance may be maintained in individuals with more experience of sportsrelated pain.

The Price of Playing Through Pain: The Link Between Physical and Behavioral Health in Former NFL Athletes

“…The finding that NFL career length is significantly and negatively associated with affective aggression suggests that longer duration of professional participation in football actually decreases the odds of affective aggression later in life. While care should be taken not to overstate the significance of this finding, it is consistent with research showing that athletes who engage in contact sports are better than others at controlling their emotions when subjected to pain (Manning and Fillingim, 2002;Thornton et al, 2020). One interpretation of the present study's finding on NFL career duration could be that professional football trains participants to reign in and productively direct aggressive impulses as governed by the rules of the game, even in emotionally charged, paininducing situations.…”

“…Furthermore, in two experimental studies, athletes were better able than nonathletes to control their pain responses. Thornton et al (2020) found that athletes in contact sports were better able than athletes in noncontact sports to maintain their performance on a motor task during painful stimulation, a finding the researchers attributed to contact athletes’ perception of pain as a challenge rather than a threat. Manning and Fillingim (2002) also found that athletes had higher pain tolerances than nonathletes, which the athletes themselves attributed to competitive coping strategies.…”

Pain Perception in Contact Sport Athletes: A Scoping Review

“…Team sport [7,8,11] Combat sport [3,4,7,8] Non-athletes [3,4,7,8,11] Non-contact athletes [7,8,11] Higher pain tolerance in contact sport athletes…”

“…Motor performance tests [8,27] were performed simultaneously with the pain condition in two studies to assess the interfering effects of pain. In both cases, the task required participants to throw a tennis ball at numbered targets in a given order.…”

“…Pain threshold and pain tolerance can be investigated via different ways of inducing pain experimentally. The pain pressure test, for instance, relies on increasing mechanical pressure applied externally over a body part [8]. Thermal pain can be induced in two ways, either by using a cold or hot temperature.…”