Are you in pain? In some cases, exercising may be as good as painkillers

From pilates to tai chi, even modest amounts of exercise can relieve pain as effectively as common pain medicines, opening the door to holistic therapeutic approaches, according to a new study. Whether you often suffer from migraines, period cramps or chronic pain, exercise could help ease the symptoms in a similar way to common painkillers. Across a wide range of conditions, exercise can significantly reduce acute and chronic pain, a new study by Adelaide University has found after analysing 157 systematic reviews encompassing 2,736 randomised controlled trials and over 220,000 participants. “At a time when we’re looking for safe and effective ways to manage pain beyond medication, these findings provide strong evidence for making exercise a more routine part of pain care,” said Carol Maher, senior researcher at Adelaide University. The researchers examined how the type, intensity and duration of exercise influenced pain relief. Overall, exercise reduced pain by around 1.1 points on a zero-to-10 scale – a reduction roughly 60% larger than the average relief reported for common medications in separate chronic pain trials. Low-intensity exercise produced greater pain relief than moderate-to-vigorous activity and shorter programs, of around 12 weeks, showed larger effects than longer ones. “Importantly, we found that more exercise wasn’t necessarily better. In fact, shorter-duration and lower-intensity programs showed greater reductions in pain, suggesting people may not need to exercise harder or for longer to experience meaningful benefits,” said lead researcher Ben Singh. Programmes under 120 minutes per week were more effective than higher weekly-duration ones that can feel unattainable for people living with chronic pain, the researchers wrote. “When we exercise, our body releases chemicals including endorphins and serotonin that can help reduce how strongly we feel pain and increase our pain tolerance,” said Singh, adding that exercising helps calm inflammation and change the way the brain responds to pain, while also improving mood. Despite these findings, the study noted that exercise remains underused as a treatment for pain: it is not yet routine practice and is rarely prescribed with the same precision as medication. “Instead, people experiencing pain may be told to ‘stay active’, rather than being given a specific, evidence-based exercise program that considers what type of exercise to do, how hard to work and for how long,” added Singh. Healthcare providers need definitive guidance, not just whether exercise helps, but which exercises work for which patients, and how to prescribe them effectively, the authors added. Yet, they warn that exercise should not be considered a universal solution or expected to eliminate pain, as its effects depend on individual factors such as the condition causing the pain, a person's level of fitness, and adherence to the programme.