• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workouts
      • Best Whey Protein
    • Equipment
      • Best Home Gym Machines
    • Certifications
      • ISSA Review
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Fitness

Exercise Can Alleviate Neuropathic Pain

You might notice you feel better while you workout. Maybe your headache goes away or some other type of nerve pain. New research examines how exercise can alleviate pain.

Joshua Wortman

Written by Joshua Wortman Last updated on June 5, 2012

Everyone knows the abundance of benefits that accompanies exercise. A new experimental study published in Anesthesia & Analgesia suggests that in addition to the known benefits, exercise also helps to alleviate pain related to nerve damage. Pain related to nerve damage, known as neuropathic pain, is quite common and it is difficult to treat. This pain is seen in patients with trauma, diabetes, and other conditions. An example of neuropathic pain is the phantom limb pain that sometimes follows amputation. Neuropathic pain often causes a burning pain and numbness that conventional pain medicines do little to alleviate. Antidepressants and antiepileptic drugs have been shown to help, but the side effects of those sometimes outweigh the benefits. As such the new study was of great potential interest.

The experimental study was conducted on rats that suffered from neuropathic pain induced by a sciatic nerve injury. Upon nerve injury, the animals performed a form of progressive exercises by either running on a treadmill or swimming. These animals performed the exercise for a few weeks, and the researchers monitored them closely.2

The results concluded from observing the rats were that there was a significant reduction in neuropathic pain in the rats of either group, treadmill running or swimming. It did not eliminate the pain completely, but the pain responses were reduced by 30 to 50 percent. Exercise reduced characteristics of neuropathic pain by reducing abnormal responses to temperature and pressure.3

An additional finding consistent with results from previous studies was that exercise leads to a reduced expression of inflammation-promoting cytokines in the development of neuropathic pain in response to nerve injury. Additionally, exercise also led to an increased expression of a protein known as heat chock protein-27, which may have aided in the reductions of cytokine expression.4

This study provides new evidence that the main culprit for the development of neuropathic pain is inflammation. It is reassuring to hear there is an alternative method to dealing with neuropathic pain that does not involve medications and the side effects that accompany them. Exercise provides extensive health benefits, and the fact it can even be used as a treatment for something such as neuropathic pain adds to that extensive list. As more research is done, hopefully scientists figure out a way to use exercise to alleviate the pain associated with neuropathy to an even greater extent.5

Joshua Wortman

About Joshua Wortman

Joshua began lifting in high school, but really doesn’t consider his effective training to have begun until the last few years. Joshua was always very strong for his bodyweight, but he didn’t just want to be strong, he wanted to look strong. At 140 pounds, no matter how strong he was for his age and weight, the size wasn’t there.

During his last year of college, Joshua began research on bodybuilding, and since his graduation, he has taken his bodybuilding to a whole new level. Josh experienced a minor setback in 2009 when he experienced an L5-L6 disc herniation while doing deadlifts. Consequently, his lower body training was very limited for almost a year. Thankfully, he has self-rehabbed his back to pretty much full strength.

Since he graduated from NC State University with his Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering, Joshua has taken his bodybuilding to a whole new level. His knowledge has increased ten fold since when he began, and both his knowledge anpersonal progress have also bred success in the fact he started up Get Right Get Tight Fitness.

View All Articles

Recommended Articles

When It's Time to Call In the Expert
When It’s Time to Call In the Expert
downwarddogs
10 Short Daily Drills to Combat Back Pain
catcowyoga
A Head-to-Toe Approach to Back Tension
The leg raise challenges the lower abdominals.
Why Your Back Hurts When You Do Abs

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

Jay Cutler Pegs Nick Walker as His 2023 Arnold Classic Favorite

2023 World’s Strongest Man Events Revealed

Actor Jonathan Majors Ate 6,100 Calories a Day to Become a Bodybuilder in “Magazine Dreams”

Eddie Hall Preps for Bodybuilding Debut by Training His Back With a Pro

Latest Reviews

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

Best Whey Proteins for Packing on Muscle, Shredding Down, Meal Replacement, and More

Best Pre-Workouts for Building Muscle, Running, Taste, and More

Best Home Gym Machines

Best Home Gym Machines

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2023 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About