Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL.
Stanford University.
Clin J Pain. 2021 Mar 1;37(3):219-225. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000917.
It is common for youth to engage in sport and unfortunately also common for chronic pain to emerge in childhood. The convergence of chronic pain and sports participation in youth has not been extensively studied.
The goal of this study was to examine the association between athletic identity (AI) and pain-related distress and functioning in youth with chronic pain.
Our cohort consisted of 305 youth ages 8 to 21, 83.6% of whom reported being currently engaged or previously involved in sport. Correlation and regression analyses were completed to evaluate the relationship between AI and pain-related distress and functioning in our cohort of chronic pain patients.
Children currently involved in sport had higher total AI and social AI, lower fear of pain, and lower functional disability. Greater negative affectivity-AI had the strongest relationship with pain-related distress, including pain catastrophizing, fear and avoidance of pain, and anxiety. Stronger social AI was associated with lower levels of depression and pain-related avoidance of activities. Functional disability was not significantly associated with AI, but was lowest in individuals currently involved in sport.
Our study provides evidence that focusing on continued sports engagement in the context of chronic pain is associated with less pain-related distress and functional limitations when compared with those who discontinue sports involvement, thus may serve as a buffer in the context of chronic pain. The association of AI with pain-related distress suggests that there is emotional significance in the degree to which youth identify as an athlete. This may be beneficial to clinically assess in youth with chronic pain.
年轻人参与体育运动很常见，但儿童时期也经常出现慢性疼痛。慢性疼痛和青少年参与体育运动的融合尚未得到广泛研究。
本研究旨在探讨运动认同（AI）与青少年慢性疼痛患者的疼痛相关痛苦和功能之间的关系。
我们的队列包括 305 名 8 至 21 岁的年轻人，其中 83.6%的人报告目前正在参与或以前曾参与过运动。我们对慢性疼痛患者队列进行了相关和回归分析，以评估 AI 与疼痛相关痛苦和功能之间的关系。
目前参与运动的儿童具有更高的总体 AI 和社会 AI，更低的疼痛恐惧和功能障碍。更强的负性情感-AI 与疼痛相关的痛苦（包括疼痛灾难化、对疼痛的恐惧和回避以及焦虑）有最强的关系。更强的社会 AI 与较低的抑郁和与疼痛相关的活动回避有关。功能障碍与 AI 没有显著相关，但在目前参与运动的个体中最低。
我们的研究提供了证据表明，在慢性疼痛的背景下，关注持续参与体育运动与疼痛相关的痛苦和功能限制较少有关，与停止运动参与的人相比，因此可能在慢性疼痛的背景下起到缓冲作用。AI 与疼痛相关痛苦之间的关联表明，年轻人对自己运动员身份的认同程度具有情感意义。这可能有助于对慢性疼痛的年轻人进行临床评估。
