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Association of cardiorespiratory fitness with pressure pain sensitivity and clinical pain in women with fibromyalgia

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to assess the association of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) with pressure pain sensitivity and clinical pain in women with fibromyalgia (FM). Thirty-one women with FM were included in the study. Pressure pain sensitivity was assessed with an electronic pressure dolorimeter. The average pressure pain threshold (PPT) from the 18 FM-related tender points and the tender points count (TPC) were recorded. Clinical pain was assessed on a 10-cm visual analog scale (VAS; from the FM impact questionnaire). The patients performed an incremental treadmill test, which consisted in six increasing workloads. Gas exchange was continuously monitored, and peak oxygen uptake (as measure of CRF) was recorded. Pairwise correlation and multiple linear regression were used to examine the association of CRF with PPT and VAS, and binary logistic regression assessed the odds of having <18 positive tender points as a function of CRF. The correlations of CRF with the average PPT and VAS were 0.355, (P < 0.001) and 0.058 (P > 0.05), respectively. Regression analyses revealed that CRF was associated with the PPT (B = 0.093; 95 % CI 0.064–0.122; P < 0.001; R 2 = 0.306) and TPC (OR 1.51; 95 % CI 1.30–1.75; P < 0.001) but not with VAS (B = 0.068; 95 % CI −0.061–0.197; P > 0.05). The findings of this study suggest that CRF is associated with pressure pain sensitivity but not with clinical pain in women with FM. Further longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to determine whether CRF could be involved in some mechanisms of pain processing.

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Acknowledgments

AS-M was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (grant number FPU12/00963). FBO was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant number RYC-2011-09011). The results of this article are likely to be included in the Doctoral Thesis from AS-M in the context of the Biomedicine Doctoral Program at the University of Granada. The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Alfredo Santalla for his support during data collection. All participants involved in the study are also acknowledged.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Alberto Soriano-Maldonado & Francisco B. Ortega

  2. Section of Physical Education and Sports, Department of Sports and Computer Science, Faculty of Sport, Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain

    Diego Munguía-Izquierdo

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  1. Alberto Soriano-Maldonado
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  2. Francisco B. Ortega
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  3. Diego Munguía-Izquierdo
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Correspondence to Diego Munguía-Izquierdo.

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Soriano-Maldonado, A., Ortega, F.B. & Munguía-Izquierdo, D. Association of cardiorespiratory fitness with pressure pain sensitivity and clinical pain in women with fibromyalgia. Rheumatol Int 35, 899–904 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-014-3203-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-014-3203-z

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