Pain and exercise

The experience of muscle pain and/or exercise induced analgesia, often asso ciated with moderate to intense exercise are common occurrences that deserv e further scientific attention. While the biological apparatus for transmis sion of the nociceptive signal is known, little information is available co ncerning the mechanisms that underlie either muscle pain experienced during exercise or exercise induced analgesia. Therefore, this article is intende d to present a rationale for the importance of research aimed at understand ing pain and exercise to provide a brief overview of the system responsible for transmitting the nociceptive signal, to provide an overview of what is currently known concerning muscle pain during exercise, to provide an over view of what is currently known regarding analgesia during and following ex ercise, and to provide ideas and considerations for future research aimed a t examining pain and exercise. We hope that the information contained herei n will spark future research intent on understanding further the phenomena of exercise induced muscle pain and analgesia.