The Relationships Among Chronic Pain Subtypes, Motor Function, and Physical Activity in Community-Dwelling Japanese Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Purpose: We investigated the relationships among motor function, physical activity, and the characteristics of chronic pain (the number of pain sites, pain intensity, and pain-type).

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: An ongoing community-based prospective study conducted in Itoshima, Japan.

Subjects: Community-dwelling Japanese aged 65-75 years (n = 805; 401 men, 404 women).

Measures: Chronic pain subtypes were examined in terms of the number of pain sites, pain intensity, and pain type. Motor function was evaluated by handgrip strength, walking speed, and the 5 Times Stand-up and Sit Test (FTSST). Locomotive activity, non-locomotive activity, and sedentary time were evaluated by a tri-axial accelerometer as physical-activity parameters.

Analysis: Multiple regression model adjusting for age, sex, education level, employment status, subjective economic status, body mass index, cognitive function, comorbidity, current tobacco use, current alcohol consumption, and regular exercise.

Results: In a multivariate analysis, the subjects' walking speed was negatively associated with multisite, moderate-to-severe, and neuropathic-like pain. The FTSST was positively associated with single-site, moderate-to-severe, and neuropathic-like pain. There was no significant association between handgrip strength and any chronic pain subtypes. Locomotive activity was negatively related to multisite, moderate-to-severe, and neuropathic-like pain, but there was no clear association between the amount of non-locomotive activity, sedentary time, and chronic pain subtypes.

Conclusion: Severe chronic pain was associated with decreased locomotion-related motor function and physical activity.