Exploring the temporal relationship among psychological stress, physical activity, and pain in adults

There is a complex relationship among psychological stress, physical activity, and pain. Most research relies on retrospective self-report, which can obtain recall errors. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is an assessment tool that provides the ability to gather information about individuals’ behaviors in their contexts, in real-time. EMA allows for continuous monitoring of variables over time, which can help shed light on temporal relationships between variables over time, such as stress, pain, and activity levels. The purpose of the present study was to fill a gap by moving from retrospective report to using EMA to explore the relationships among psychological stress and physical activity on subsequent pain levels in an adult sample. Informed by the transactional model of stress and coping, we proposed that prior levels of stress would be positively related to subsequent pain levels; and conversely, that prior levels of physical activity would be negatively related to subsequent pain.

This study consisted of 100 participants recruited from a national database and large midwestern university. Participants were sent a wearable device (Fitbit Inspire) to capture their physical activity levels over a two-week period. Participants also responded to ping requests four-times daily to assess stress levels and pain levels on a 0-10 scale (0 meaning no symptoms of stress or pain and 10 meaning the most severe symptoms of stress or pain). Contrary to our hypotheses, results showed that prior stress and physical activity were not significantly related to subsequent pain levels; however, significant correlational relationships were found between our variables when measured cross-sectionally.

Future research could benefit from exploring the temporal relationship among psychological stress, physical activity, and pain. Additionally, the present study provides support for further exploration of EMA for pain research.