Abstract des Autors

This study was designed to investigate the effect of a warning cue on the pain tolerance of athletes trained in progressive muscle relaxation. Based on the theory that the relaxation response and the pain stimulus would compete for attention, it was thought that relaxation would be especially beneficial if begun before the initiation of the pain stimulus. It was therefore hypothesized that the presence of a warning cue would allow the trained athletes to more fully relax, relative to subjects who relaxed at the initiation of the pain stimulus. This greater relative relaxation was predicted to lead to increased pain tolerance. As a test of this theory, athletes trained in progressive muscle relaxation and a placebo control group of nonathletes, who listened to soothing music, were asked to relax either at a warning cue or at the initiation of the pain stimulus, the gross pressure device. A nonintervention control group of nonathletes was included in the experimental design. Results indicated that those athletes trained in progressive muscle relaxation and provided a warning cue displayed both significantly greater relaxation (lower heart rates) and pain tolerance than did all other groups. Verf.-Referat