Domain-Specific Physical Activity, Pain Interference, and Muscle Pain after Activity

Area of Science:

• Epidemiology
• Musculoskeletal Health
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Physical activity is crucial for overall health, but its specific associations with pain outcomes across different life domains require detailed investigation.
• Understanding these relationships can inform targeted interventions for pain management and prevention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the associations between occupation, household, transport, and leisure physical activity and pain interference with work and muscle pain after activity.
• To investigate the nonlinear relationships between physical activity domains and pain outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional analysis of the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study, including 7655 working and 11,766 nonworking participants.
• Utilized the International Physical Activity Questionnaire for physical activity assessment and the Short-Form 12-Item Health Survey version 2.0 for pain interference.
• Employed ordered logistic regression and restricted cubic splines to analyze domain-specific physical activity and pain outcomes.

Main Results:

• Nonlinear associations were observed between all physical activity domains and pain outcomes.
• Higher transport physical activity (median 10 MET·h·wk) and leisure time activity (median 20 MET·h·wk) were linked to reduced pain interference and muscle pain.
• Median household activity (16 MET·h·wk) was associated with increased pain interference and muscle pain, particularly in the working group.

Conclusions:

• The impact of physical activity on pain is domain-specific and not uniform.
• Transport and leisure physical activities show inverse associations with pain, suggesting a protective effect.
• Household physical activity demonstrated a positive association with pain outcomes in the working population, indicating a potential risk.