Pain Education in the Wellness, Training Performance, and Pain Intensity of Youth Athletes: An Experimental Study

Abstract

Background: Although pain management programs reduce pain and improve wellness perception in the general population, few studies have explored these effects in athletes. This study evaluated the effects of an educational program about pain neuroscience on wellness, training performance, and pain in youth athletes. Differences according to sex were also explored. Methods: For 12 weeks, 52 athletes were randomly assigned to an intervention group (IG: educational program about healthy sports habits and pain neuroscience) or a control group (CG: education on healthy sports habits only). Before the start of the study and weekly until its end, wellness, training performance, and pain intensity were monitored via a questionnaire. Results: After the intervention, IG decreased stress (p = 0.028) compared to the baseline, and a higher number of training sessions were performed without health problems (76.6%) compared to the number in the CG (63.0%) (χ2 = 8.31, p = 0.004). Regarding pain, the IG perceived lower pain than the CG did (p = 0.028). Females in the IG had lower pain than those in the CG did (p < 0.05), without differences in other variables or in males (p > 0.05). Conclusions: An educational program that includes pain neuroscience may help youth athletes improve their wellness status, pain intensity perception, and training session performance.