Does pain sensitivity correlate with gastrointestinal symptoms in runners? An observational survey study.

Objective: Heightened pain sensitivity is common in functional gut disorders, but no research has examined whether it corresponds to exercise-associated gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. We sought to explore whether scores on a questionnaire of pain sensitivity would correlate with GI symptoms during running.

Design: This is a cross-sectional study.

Subjects: The study involves 290 (137 male, 153 female) distance runners.

Methods: Runners completed a survey inquiring about demographic, anthropometric and training information and rated GI symptoms at rest and during runs. In addition, the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ) was used to quantify pain sensitivity across all items (PSQ-Total) and on items typically rated as minor (PSQ-Minor). Spearman rho correlations were utilized to assess the associations between pain sensitivity and GI symptoms. Partial correlations were used to evaluate the associations after controlling for age, gender, running experience, body mass index and sleep problems.

Results: PSQ scores weakly correlated with several GI symptoms at rest (rho = 0.13-0.20;  < 0.05), which remained largely intact in partial correlation analyses (partial rho = 0.12-0.18). PSQ scores weakly correlated with fullness, bloating and gas during runs (rho = 0.12-0.18;  < 0.05); fullness and bloating remained significant in the partial correlation analyses (partial rho = 0.12-0.15). These results were relatively consistent for both the PSQ-Total and PSQ-Minor.

Conclusions: Although PSQ scores only weakly correlate with certain GI symptoms among runners, the effect sizes are similar to that of other predictors of GI distress. These results suggest a minor possible role of pain sensitivity in the development of certain GI symptoms in runners.