title: Pain perception and cardiovascular system response among athletes playing contact sports.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine whether the contact sports change the perception of pain as assessed by the cold pressor test (CPT), and if the test induces the same reaction of the cardiovascular system in contact athletes and non-athletes. The study involved 321 healthy men; 140 contact athletes and 181 students of the University of Szczecin (control). Pain threshold and pain tolerance were evaluated using CPT. Cardiovascular measurements were made during CPT. The contact athletes showed a much higher tolerance to pain than the control group (median time 120 vs. 94 s, respectively, p = 0.0002). The thresholds of pain in both groups did not differ significantly between the groups. Systolic blood pressure measured before and during the test in all three measurements was statistically significantly higher in athletes compared with the control group. Heart rate and diastolic blood pressure did not differ significantly between the studied groups.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Human Functional Anatomy and Biometry , Institute of Physical Culture and Health Promotion, Szczecin University , Szczecin , Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Leźnicka
authors.affiliation: b Institute of Physiology , University of Würzburg , Wurzburg , Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pawlak
authors.affiliation: c Department of Pharmacokinetics and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring , Pomeranian Medical University , Szczecin , Poland.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Białecka
authors.affiliation: d Department of Biochemistry and Medical Chemistry , Pomeranian Medical University , Szczecin , Poland.
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Safranow
authors.affiliation: e Department of Biological Basis of Physical Culture , Insitute of Physical Culture and Health Promotion, Szczecin University , Szczecin , Poland.
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cięszczyk
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002319:Cardiovascular System; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement; D058748:Pain Perception; D017288:Pain Threshold; D013177:Sports / Q000145:classification*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Contact sports; blood pressure; cold pressor test; heart rate; pain perception