Psychological and medical factors associated with pain running.

This study found that 56% of 370 runners sampled push themselves during running until they feel pain. These pain runners were more likely to be male, taller, heavier, and younger than nonpain runners. They were also more likely to be running for competition and less likely for improved health than nonpain runners. Pain runners took significantly more risks when running, and they were significantly higher on 17 of 23 medical symptoms than nonpain runners. Regression analyses showed that pushing to pain during running was a significant predictor of cardiovascular/respiratory, musculoskeletal, and autonomic nervous system symptom factors. Pain runners also reported significantly more death thoughts and death anxiety on the Dickstein Death Concern Scale than nonpain runners. Finally, pain runners did not significantly differ from nonpain runners on their running statistics.