The influence of pain education on pain responses to exercise in people with chronic pain and healthy individuals

INTERVENTION: The intervention will involve general education about pain during exercise followed by explicit education about pain relieving effects of exercise. The education will be delivered face to face by an Accredited Exercise Physiologist on an individual basis but will not be personalised for each participant. The intervention education component of the experiment will last approximately 15 minutes and the entire experimental session will last approximately 60 ‐ 90 minutes with the rest of the experimental session to consist of participants completing questionnaires relating to their health and level of physical activity (30 min), a bout of aerobic exercise (20 min), and assessments of pressure pain threshold before and after exercise (10 min). All testing will be performed at Neuroscience Research Australia. For participants in the chronic pain group, abstinence from analgesic medication(s) must begin 23 hours prior to the start of their experimental session. CONDITION: Fibromyalgia Hip osteoarthritis Knee osteoarthritis PRIMARY OUTCOME: Change in pressure pain threshold assessed using a handheld algometer. SECONDARY OUTCOME: Assessment of knowledge and beliefs about exercise and pain arising from the education intervention assessed using a questionnaire designed specifically for this study. The questionnaire consists of 5 questions that are each scored on a 7‐point Likert scale anchored at one end with "Strongly agree" and at the other end with "Strongly disgaree". Change in self‐reported pain assessed using a 0‐10 numerical and categorical pain scale INCLUSION CRITERIA: Participants in the chronic pain group must be able to speak, read and write English and have a specialist diagnosis of knee or hip osteoarthritis or fibromyalgia. Participants in the chronic pain group must also be able to refrain from analgesic medications for 24 hours. Participants in the healthy group must be able to speak, read and write English.