Can Exercise Help
Improve Sleep In
Pain Patients?
, iPain Living Editor
A recent randomized controlled
study looked at sleep disturbance
in patients with chronic pain affected
to see if physical exercise
or Acceptance and commitment
therapy based stress management
(ACT-based stress management)
was helpful. A majority of pain
patients report sleep disturbances.
Two hundred ninety-nine chronic
pain subjects were randomized to
Exercise, (ACT-bsm),
or an active control
group. Two hundred
thirty-two participants
(78%) received their allocated
intervention at least to some
extent. These participants were
evaluated using mixed model
analyses for changes in sleep
(Insomnia Severity Index, ISI),
pain intensity, depression, and
anxiety immediately after treatment,
six months and twelve
months after treatment.
Although access to cognitive behavior
therapy is limited, it has
produced promising results for
insomnia comorbid with chronic
pain. Over the last ten years, interventions
aiming to increase cognitive
flexibility and physical activity
have been assumed to be effective
treatments for a variety of
conditions, including insomnia
and chronic pain.
This study was performed at Linköping
University Hospital in
Linköping, Sweden. Adults with
chronic benign neck, low back,
and/or generalized pain were in-
were randomized to Exercise,
ACT-bsm, or Control Group.
Treatments lasted between seven
and eight weeks and all participants
were measured before and
after treatment and followed up at
six and twelve months. The mixed
model analyses revealed that exercise
had a positive effect on insomnia
compared with the control
group and the effect remained af-
months. No clear effect
(i.e., both for completers and for
completers together with treatment
non-completers) upon ISI
was found for the ACT-bsm. Pain
intensity decreased significantly
both in the exercise group and in
the control group. For the two
psychological variables (i.e.,
symptoms of anxiety and depression)
were found significant im-