Pain Tolerance in Sport Eddie O’Connor, PhD, CC--AASP
Performance Excellence Center Pain is ever-present in sport. An
athlete’s ability to tolerate pain is essential to success. Pain
provides valuable information about your body and how it is
performing. To maximize its usefulness it is important to
understand what kind of pain should be listened to and what type
is helpful or safe to work through. First, we must define the
different types of pain you can experience: - Fatigue and
discomfort. This is an unpleasant feeling produced by effort,
but not strong enough to be labeled “pain.” Athletes learn to be
“comfortable being uncomfortable,” as such efforts are a regular
and necessary part of most sports. With continued effort,
discomfort can turn into … - Positive training pain. This pain
often occurs with endurance exercise, and includes muscle
fatigue and sensations in the lungs and heart that can range
from unpleasant to what is typically thought of as pain. It is
neither threatening nor a sign of injury. B