Triathletes Train to Feel less Pain!

            I am a newly-born triathlete, and one of the most common comments I get from people is “Girl you are crazy, why do you enjoy pain?!” and my response always is “because it hurts so good”… but why? Why is it that only 1% of the population WANTS to endure through the pain of swimming for miles, then biking for twice as many, and then running?

 A new study confirms this interesting conundrum by concluding triathletes in fact can withstand more pain than the average human being. Why is this important? Researchers are now using this information to create treatments and therapies for people with chronic pain. Here’s how it works together.

In this study, a small population of 36 participants were pooled together. Of the 36, 19 were seasoned/veteran triathletes (10 men, 9 women) and 17 were non triathletes but active exercisers (runners, swimmers, lifters etc) (7 men, 10 women). Each person was then tested on their sensitivity to increasing intensity of heat and cold temperatures as well as length of time the temperature was endured. Interestingly enough, the pain threshold for both cold and hot was not significantly different between the triathletes and non-triathletes but the length of time endured was. Triathletes were able to withstand the extreme temperature for a significantly greater duration of time compared to the non-triathletes.

How could this be? There are many possible explanations. It is hypothesized that triathletes experience repetitive pain in different forms throughout training and races. This continual pain input also stimulated the area of the brain stem that is responsible for pain inhibition that over time would result in pain inhibition in a variety of forms that include emotional and physical pain (including pain proprioceptors). To assist with the physical changes that may be occurring with the pain receptors are the physiological mechanisms that occur from the reward achieved at the end of a training session or competition. The “euphoric” or “runners high” as we like to call it is the interaction between this physical pain inhibition and an increase in dopamine in reward pathways. Together, this enables triathletes to associate activities such as this with the intense pleasure rather than the pain. So it in the end it actually makes sense how training and competitions might “hurt so good”. All of these theories have not been officially tested, but the background is highly supportive of these mechanisms and experiments are looking promising.

These hypothesis and the results from this study indicate that this could be an important breakthrough in chronic pain management. An inspiring tale in this article talks of how she became a professional triathlete all while living with SEVERE CHRONIC rheumatoid arthritis, that at one point was so severe she could not get out of bed. She said that training and working with physical therapists forced her to learn the fine line between pain that she could push through and pain that was indicative of a potential injury. Don’t worry though; health specialists are going to start telling those of you with chronic pain to all start training for a triathlon! Instead, researchers are now aiming to study therapeutic techniques and exercise programs aimed to facilitate the resilience that is found within triathletes and to ultimately decrease the effects of their everyday pain without popping another pill! 

References 

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/its-true-triathletes-are-tougher-rest-us-8C11391282

http://journals.humankinetics.com/tsp-back issues/tspvolume22issue3september/bouncingbackfromadversityathletesexperienceofresilience

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/10363906/Triathletes-push-themselves-because-they-feel-less-pain.html