AUTHOR=O'Connor Patrick J. 

TITLE=Pain During a Marathon Run: Prevalence and Correlates in a Cross-Sectional Study of 1,251 Recreational Runners in 251 Marathons

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sports and Active Living

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2021.630584

DOI=10.3389/fspor.2021.630584

ISSN=2624-9367

ABSTRACT=Empirical information about pain during a marathon is scant. 1,251 runners, 550 females, completed an online survey. Kilometer at which pain first occurred indexed pain threshold. Pain intensity was measured with a 0-10 scale. Effort ratings (6-20) were added as a covariate in an ANCOVA to test if perceived effort accounted for possible sex-related differences in pain. Based on the available research, it was hypothesized that: (i) most runners would report moderate intensity pain, (ii) pain would be associated with both exercise intensity during the marathon and pain during training, and (iii) after adjusting for expected sex-related differences in perceived effort, females would experience pain earlier and rate the pain intensity as higher. Most runners (99.8%) reported pain during a marathon, and most frequently in the thigh (17.1%), hamstring (10%) and calf (9.3%) locations. Pain threshold occurred at 25.3 ± 9.8 km (15.7 ± 6.1 miles) and the overall pain intensity of the run was 5.26 ± 2.45. No sex-related pain differences were found. Overall pain intensity during a marathon was significantly associated with: pain intensity during training runs (r=.39), percentage of training days with run-induced pain (r=.23), highest intensity pain ever experienced (r=.23), number of prior marathons (r= -.18) and intensity of effort (r=.11) (all P <0.001). Most runners experience moderate to very strong intensity pain during a marathon; the pain is independent of biological sex, and the pain is weakly associated with marathon race experience, pain during training, race effort and the highest intensity of pain ever experienced.