For the first time, visiting associate professor Gosuke Sato of the Neurorehabilitation Research Center, Kio University, and others reported that long-term physical therapy (aerobic exercise) has the effect of reducing neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury.
Neuropathic pain, which occurs in about half of patients after spinal cord injury, is known to cause a decline in various health indicators.On the other hand, aerobic exercise has been shown to activate a "pain-suppressing mechanism" that reduces pain sensitivity, and even for neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury, immediate analgesia with aerobic exercise intervention. It has been reported that the effect is obtained.
However, the reports so far have been limited to single interventions, and the pain-relieving effect of long-term interventions has not been clarified. On the other hand, long-term (18 weeks) physical therapy including aerobic exercise was performed, and the effect on neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury was examined.
Interventions were performed daily for 1 minutes each, and weight-free intensive gait training intended for aerobic exercise was performed, especially during the 40th to 4th weeks.The results showed that the NRS score, which is an indicator of average pain intensity and maximum intensity, decreased significantly after 10 weeks.At the same time as the start of intensive gait training (after 6 weeks), the PAF (Peak alpha frequency) obtained from EEG activity shifted significantly to the high frequency range. The shift of PAF to the high frequency range indicates a state of decreased sensitivity to pain, which confirms the effect of reducing pain intensity during aerobic exercise.After the intensive walking training period, the PAF shifted to the low frequency range, but the shift to the high frequency range was still maintained compared to the time of admission.
It can be said that the results of this study suggest that continuous aerobic exercise can reduce pain without touching the painful body part.In the future, it will be necessary to verify multiple cases and clarify the analgesic effect of aerobic exercise in detail.
