High cardiorespiratory fitness and vigorous physical activity were more consistently associated with static pressure pain thresholds than with dynamic pain sensitivity measures in healthy adults.
Do high cardiorespiratory fitness and vigorous physical activity relate to pain sensitivity assessments in healthy adults?
Physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness exhibit distinct relationships with various quantitative sensory testing measures, being more consistently related to static pressure than dynamic measures.
CRF or vigorous PA metrics were more consistently related to static pressure QST (PPT) than to dynamic QST (TS and CPM). Our findings in a single cohort mirror the inconsistencies noted across cohorts in the literature, suggesting that PA and CRF exhibit distinct relationships with various QST measures.
Khoshavi et al. (2026) studied this question. High cardiorespiratory fitness and vigorous physical activity were more consistently associated with static pressure pain thresholds than with dynamic pain sensitivity measures in healthy adults.