This kind of evaluation is in some ways a more objective way of measuring the body’s response to pain, as opposed to simply asking someone if they feel pain.

This is important because if an obese person begins an exercise program, he may not cognitively experience pain when in fact it is hurting the body on some level. That could lead to severe pain...

Our findings show the importance of looking at objective as well as subjective measurements of how the body responds to pain stimuli.

I think the most important point of this preliminary study is that obese individuals may have a lower threshold for pain [possibly due to chronic inflammation associated with obesity], which is not evident if we...

Some studies say that obese people are more tolerant of pain, while other studies say they are less tolerant.

The findings from both studies indicate that the effect of exercise we found in the current study truly represents an enhanced rate of wound healing in older adults.

For subjective indicators of pain, obese people indicated similar levels of pain to non-obese people. But when we looked at objective indicators, we found that the obese group had a lower threshold for pain.

Exercise increases circulation and helps regulate the immune system and hormones that influence the healing process.

This is the first time we’ve been able to document this kind of enhancement associated with exercise.

The relaxation procedure helped both groups cope with pain.