Exercise-Induced Muscle Pain

Abstract

Pain has been defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage. This definition implies that the pain experience is subjective, has an affective component, and may not require actual tissue damage. The purpose of this laboratory manual is to focus on the intensity of pain that occurs naturally in active skeletal muscles during exercise, even in individuals who are healthy and injury-free. This perceptual construct is independent of perceived exertion, but the two variables have been measured concurrently during both aerobic and resistance exercise in adults and children. Similar to perceived exertion, individuals can rate their intensity of perceived pain by selecting a rating from a range of numerical categories displayed on a scale. Some scales, such as the Pain Intensity Scale and the Children’s OMNI Muscle Hurt Scale, include construct-specific verbal and pictorial descriptors placed in juxtaposition to numerical categories representing the range of perceptual responsiveness from no pain at all to unbearable pain. Exercise-induced muscle pain may be an important variable to monitor during exercise testing and prescription because of its potentially powerful implications for the adoption and maintenance of regular PA.