INTRODUCTION:
Pain is a subjective experience, which can result from tissue characteristics, but which also includes factors of various types, such as emotional, cultural and individual factors. Chronic pain is defined as persistent or recurrent pain, lasting for more than 3 months, of unknown cause, and not necessarily associated with a bodily injury. The costs associated with this health condition have prompted the system to investigate effective interventions for the treatment of pain in general. The phenomenon of exercise-induced analgesia is mainly observed in athletes, and the mechanisms involved are still unknown, although there is a tendency to attribute it to the action of the endogenous opioid system.
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate the effect of a physical exercise program on nonspecific chronic pain.
METHOD:
The sample consisted of 29 individuals who joined a home exercise program. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was applied, which measures the weekly time spent in physical activity of light, moderate and vigorous intensity, and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), which was used to evaluate the intensity of the pain. The statistical analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
CONCLUSION:
The implementation of multidisciplinary programs, with the prescription of aerobic exercises, and strengthening and stretching exercises, in a protocol of household exercises, presented an effective improvement in the pain threshold in patients with nonspecific chronic pain.
chronic pain; exercise; sports medicine