Todd Kendra, Kramer John, Olsen Kenedy, Martin Ginis Kathleen
School of Health and Exercise Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.
International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2024 Aug 3;10(3):e001828. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001828. eCollection 2024.
Chronic pain among athletes is often misinterpreted as tissue damage resulting from sport. While researchers have started to examine neuropathic pain among athletes with spinal cord injury (SCI), there is a need to develop a deeper understanding of their neuropathic pain symptoms and experiences, to support the development of evidence-based pain management protocols.
The primary purpose of this study was to describe neuropathic pain experienced by athletes with SCI. A secondary purpose was to compare athletes' neuropathic pain symptoms when measured by two different clinical pain assessment tools and describe their experiences when trying to communicate their neuropathic pain.
47 athletes with SCI completed the International Spinal Cord Injury Pain Basic Data Set (V.2.0), Douleur Neuropathique 4 (DN4), and two open-ended pain questions over the telephone.
66% of participants reported experiencing moderate-intensity neuropathic pain (M=5.32±1.78) and mild-to-moderate pain interference with activities of daily living (M=3.55±2.11) and sleep (M4.68±2.92). Overall, participants reported significantly more neuropathic pain symptoms in response to DN4 questions (M=4.62±1.38) versus open-ended pain questions (M=2.13±1.08), p<0.001. Participants reported difficulty with identifying neuropathic pain, describing their pain symptoms and identifying pain locations.
Athletes with SCI reported moderate-intensity neuropathic pain. However, they struggled with communicating their neuropathic pain without being prompted with a list of symptoms. To guide the development of effective pain management strategies among athletes with SCI, future research should focus on developing knowledge products to improve awareness of common neuropathic pain descriptors among athletes with SCI and sports medicine personnel.
运动员的慢性疼痛常被误解为运动导致的组织损伤。虽然研究人员已开始研究脊髓损伤（SCI）运动员的神经性疼痛，但仍需更深入地了解他们的神经性疼痛症状和经历，以支持基于证据的疼痛管理方案的制定。
本研究的主要目的是描述SCI运动员经历的神经性疼痛。次要目的是比较用两种不同临床疼痛评估工具测量时运动员的神经性疼痛症状，并描述他们在试图表达神经性疼痛时的经历。
47名SCI运动员通过电话完成了国际脊髓损伤疼痛基础数据集（第2.0版）、神经病理性疼痛4问卷（DN4）以及两个开放式疼痛问题。
66%的参与者报告经历了中度强度的神经性疼痛（M=5.32±1.78），且对日常生活活动有轻度至中度的疼痛干扰（M=3.55±2.11）以及对睡眠有疼痛干扰（M=4.68±2.92）。总体而言，与开放式疼痛问题（M=
2.13±1.08）相比，参与者对DN4问题回答的神经性疼痛症状明显更多（M=4.62±1.38），p<0.001。参与者报告在识别神经性疼痛、描述疼痛症状以及确定疼痛部位方面存在困难。
SCI运动员报告有中度强度的神经性疼痛。然而，在没有症状清单提示的情况下，他们在表达神经性疼痛方面存在困难。为指导SCI运动员有效疼痛管理策略的制定，未来研究应专注于开发知识产品，以提高SCI运动员和运动医学人员对常见神经性疼痛描述词的认识。
