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Ultra‐ M arathon R unners A re D ifferent: I nvestigations into P ain T olerance and P ersonality T raits of P articipants of the TransEurope FootRace 2009
Author(s) -
Freund Wolfgang,
Weber Frank,
Billich Christian,
Birklein Frank,
Breimhorst Markus,
Schuetz Uwe H
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
pain practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1533-2500
pISSN - 1530-7085
DOI - 10.1111/papr.12039
Subject(s) - cooperativeness , pain tolerance , test (biology) , cold pressor test , threshold of pain , medicine , empathy , psychology , clinical psychology , personality , psychiatry , social psychology , paleontology , heart rate , blood pressure , temperament , biology
Susceptibility to pain varies among individuals and may predispose to a higher risk for pain disorders. Thus, it is of interest to investigate subjects who exhibit higher resistance to pain. We therefore tested pain tolerance and assessed personality traits of ultra‐marathon athletes who are able to run 4487 km (2789 mi) over 64 days without resting days and compare the results to controls. Methods After approval of the local ethics committee and with informed consent, 11 participants of the T rans E urope F oot R ace ( TEFR 09 participants) and 11 matched (age, sex, and ethnicity) controls without marathon experience in the last 5 years were enrolled. They were tested for cold pain tolerance (cold pressor [ CP ] test), and the 240 item trait and character inventory ( TCI ) as well as the general self‐efficacy ( GSE ) test were obtained. Results T rans E urope F oot R ace participants had a highly significant greater cold pain tolerance in the CP test than controls ( P = 0.0002). While the GSE test showed no differences, the TCI test provided TEFR 09 participants to be less cooperative and reward dependent but more spiritually transcendent than the controls. Significant positive correlations were found between the CP test pain score at 180 seconds and several TCI subscales showing that higher pain scores correlate with higher reward dependence, dependence, cooperativeness, empathy, and pure‐hearted conscience. Conclusions Personality profiles as well as pain tolerance of our sample of TEFR 09 participants differ from normal controls and—as obtained in previous studies—probably also from chronic pain patients. Low pain perception may predispose a person to become a long‐distance runner. It remains unclear, however, whether low pain perception is cause or consequence of continuous extreme training.