Pain tolerance and cardiorespiratory fitness in women with dysmenorrhea

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Hormonal changes are known to affect quality of life of women and may interfere in pain tolerance and cardiorespiratory exercise performance. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate and compare pressure pain tolerance threshold and cardiorespiratory fitness in women in luteal and follicular phases of the menstrual cycle. METHODS: University students aged 18-30 years old with a regular menstrual cycle were evaluated for cardiorespiratory fitness (ergospirometry), pain perception through the visual analog scale and pressure pain tolerance (algometry). RESULTS: When evaluated in follicular phase, the 13 participants exhibited a significant increase (p