Abstract:
Research has shown that previous experience with pain has a desensitizing effect on pain threshold and tolerance. In Phase I, athletes underwent a cold pressor pain test. Athletes participating in contact sports rated their pain as less severe and had a greater pain tolerance time than non-contact sports athletes. An analysis of co-variance using aggressiveness as the covariate did not alter the outcomes of the pain threshold and tolerance measures. In Phase II, a significant difference existed between the amount of pain required to stop practicing and the amount of pain required to stop playing. Athletes were more willing to compete while injured and in pain, thus potentially compounding and worsening their injuries. Taken together, these results provide support for the role of physical contact on desensitizing athletes to pain, and indicate a need for additional intervention and education concerning adequate injury healing time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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