Examining conditioned pain modulation in non-elite and elite rock climbers : the influence of pain coping strategies and cognitive appraisal
department or school: Education, Faculty of
department or school: Kinesiology, School of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: McDougall, Jessica F.
issued: 2018-08-21T15:56:05Z
issued: 2018
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The physical demands of rock climbing combined with climber’s verbal reports suggest that this sport requires participants to cope with pain. Recent athlete pain studies have used Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM), a measure of pain that quantifies the amount that one painful sensation downregulates other painful sensations. This research has focused on traditional-sport athletes such as runners and has neglected adventure sport athletes such as climbers. Furthermore, the influence of pain coping strategies and appraisals on CPM have not been clarified. This study examined how elite and novice climbers experience, cope with, and appraise pain by examining CPM in a laboratory test. In addition, coping and appraisals for the pain during the CPM test were compared to coping and appraisals of a recent painful climb to examine if the situations elicited similar responses. Elite climbers (n=27) demonstrated higher CPM (p<.01) and higher baseline pain tolerance (p<.05) than novice climbers (n=26). Novice climbers reported using higher distraction coping strategies than elite climbers in both the CPM test and during a recent painful climb (p<.05). Elite climbers reported more control over pain during a recent painful climb (p<.01). Despite group differences, distraction coping was not linearly correlated to CPM. Intraclass correlation analysis showed that most pain coping strategies and appraisals were moderately to highly correlated across the two conditions, suggesting similarities in how climbers appraised and coped with the pain during the CPM test and climbing. Results suggest that elite climbers have better pain tolerance than non-elite climbers. However, the role of coping and appraisals of pain was unclear. Future research should consider longitudinal studies to examine the factors that lead to an elite climber’s higher pain tolerance, as well as examining climbers of all skill levels to elucidate the link between the stress process and rock climbing.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/66858
note: EXAMINING CONDITIONED PAIN MODULATION IN NON-ELITE AND ELITE ROCK CLIMBERS: THE INFLUENCE OF PAIN COPING STRATEGIES AND COGNITIVE APPRAISAL by JESSICA F. MCDOUGALL B.Sc., Simon Fraser University, 2014 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Kinesiology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2018 © Jessica F. McDougall, 2018 i Abstract The physical demands of rock climbing combined with climber’s verbal reports suggest that this sport requires participants to cope with pain. Recent athlete pain studies have used Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM), a measure of pain that quantifies the amount that one painful sensation downregulates other painful sensations. This research has focused on traditional-sport athletes such as runners and has neglected adventure sport athletes such as climbers. Furthermore, the influence of pain coping strategies and appraisals on CPM have not been clarified. This study examined how elite and novice climbers experience, cope with, and appraise pain by examining CPM in a laboratory test. In addition, coping and appraisals for the pain during the CPM test were compared to coping and appraisals of a recent painful climb to examine if the situations elicited similar responses. Elite climbers (n=27) demonstrated higher CPM (p<.01) and higher baseline pain tolerance (p<.05) than novice climbers (n=26). Novice climbers reported using higher distraction coping strategies than elite climbers in both the CPM test and during a recent painful climb (p<.05). Elite climbers reported more control over pain during a recent painful climb (p<.01). Despite group differences, distraction coping was not linearly correlated to CPM. Intraclass correlation analysis showed that most pain coping strategies and appraisals were moderately to highly correlated across the two conditions, suggesting similarities in how climbers appraised and coped wi…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2018-09
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0371156
language: eng
degree discipline: Kinesiology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/66858