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Triathletes are the Toughest...

Saturday, 04 June 2016 00:10

By Melissa Dahl (tday.com - Oct. 25, 2013)

Triathletes can tolerate more pain than the rest of us, a new study confirms, which helps explain why they would swim, then bike, then run, all because they want to and not because they are, perhaps, being chased by a bear.
That’s interesting on its own, but there’s more: Researchers say that understanding how athletes can withstand the pain of a grueling endurance event may eventually lead to potential treatments and therapies for people with chronic pain.

“It’s a very masochistic sport,” said Jenna Parker, who was the top female finisher in the New York City Triathlon in July. She was joking, but only kind of. “I guess to some extent, I always wondered what it is that makes people able to compete at a high level in athletics. Obviously there’s something that’s different that makes us able to push our physical boundaries in a way that other people can’t.”  ...

It was a small study, with just 36 participants: 19 triathletes (10 men and nine women) and 17 non-triathletes (seven men and 10 women). The triathletes each compete in at least two national competitions a year – either Olympic distance or Ironman; the non-triathletes were active, but more casual exercisers – runners, swimmers, Zumba-ers.

In one experiment, the researchers asked teach volunteers to put a hand in cold water, about 53 degrees; they were told to remove it if or when they experienced unbearable pain. In another experiment, they experienced gradually increasing heat applied to a forearm with a computerized gadget, starting from about 95 degrees Fahrenheit. They were asked to press a switch when they first felt pain, and then press a switch when they could no longer tolerate the pain.  READ MORE