Pain toleration
I'm a psychology student so I can go a bit deeper into this subject. I truly believe that pain is an adaptive mechanism and so is its ability to tolerate it. As we continiously expose our muscles to physical stress, our muscles grow bigger but so does our CNS perception of physical pain. From personal experience I have noticed that sometimes I even enjoy pain, and able to withstand very painful workouts that an untrained individual would never be able to do. The ability to go pass the pain barrier is related to Golgi tendon mechanism.. more info here:
http://www.exrx.net/Questions/GTO.html
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Here's a couple of tidbits:
1. Did you know that women tolerate pain based on their present hormonal levels (1)
2. Hypnosis can increase pain threshold (2)
3. Compared to females, males exhibited less negative pain responses when focusing on the sensory component of pain (i.e. increased threshold, tolerance and lower sensory pain). (3)
1 . Title: A correlation between sex hormone levels and pressure pain threshold and tolerance in healthy women.
Subject(s) : HORMONES, Sex; WOMEN -- Sexual behavior
Abstract : The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sex hormone levels and pressure pain threshold (PPT) and pressure pain tolerance (PPTO) in healthy women. Forty-one volunteers with mean age 33.00 ± 6.28 years participated in the study. Before PPT and PPTO, plasma levels of estrogen, progesterone, prolactin, luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone and follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) were determined. The PPT and PPTO were measured at masseteric muscle by pressure algometer. There was a significant positive correlation between estrogen, progesterone, prolactine and PPT and PPTO (p < 0.01), but there was no correlation between FSH and PPT, PPTO. It was concluded that sex hormone levels influence pain perception in healthy women. It must be taken into consideration that in pain treatment of women, due to fluctuation of hormone levels, perception of pain may change.
2. Hypnosis increases heat detection and heat pain thresholds in healthy volunteers. (eng; includes abstract) By Langlade A, Reg Anesth Pain Med, 2002 Jan-Feb; Vol. 27 (1), pp. 43-6; PMID: 11799504
3. Title: Gender, coping and the perception of pain.
Abstract : Research consistently indicates that gender differences exist in pain perception, with females typically reporting more negative responses to pain than males. It also seems as if males and females use and benefit from different coping strategies when under stress; females seem to prefer emotion-focused coping, whereas males prefer sensory-focused coping. Unfortunately, experimental research that examines such differences in the context of pain has not yet been adequately investigated. The aim of the current study was, therefore, to determine whether gender differences would be found in the effect that sensory-focused and emotion-focused coping instructions have on cold pressor pain experiences. Participants consisted of 24 male and 26 female healthy adults, all of whom reported no current pain. A consistent pattern of effects was found, over both behavioural and self-report measures of pain. Compared to females, males exhibited less negative pain responses when focusing on the sensory component of pain (i.e. increased threshold, tolerance and lower sensory pain). Furthermore, compared to sensory focusing, emotional focusing was found to increase the affective pain experience of females. Together these results confirm that important differences exist between men and women in the effects pain coping instructions have on the experience of pain. The implications of such findings for research and practice are discussed.
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