It didn’t take long for Elettra Piccoli to reap the benefits of movement.
The 78-year-old Concord, NSW, resident had been curious about exercising when her Commonwealth Home Support worker suggested she start going to Dance Health Alliance, a dance program designed for seniors.
For Piccoli, it was an easy choice given her love of dancing and music but almost immediately, she noticed a difference in her body: the back aches and leg pain that had been bothering her eased and her balance improved.
“The body was moving, every part of the body was moving, and I thought that was really great,” Piccoli says.
Pain comes in many different forms. One in five Australians adults and children live with chronic pain, which is categorised as pain that lasts more than three months. And it’s a leading cause of disability and lost productivity.
Whether it’s the body aches that accompany ageing, monthly period cramps or a nasty migraine, exercising might sound like torture, but it will likely help.
That’s the message of new research from Adelaide University that found exercise can significantly reduce acute and chronic pain across a wide range of conditions.
The research is the most complete review conducted into how exercise relieves pain. Lead researcher Dr Ben Singh says on a zero to 10 pain scale, exercise can reduce pain by about 1.1 points.
“That’s around 60 per cent greater than the average pain relief reported for common pain medications in separate studies, although we didn’t directly compare exercise with medication,” Singh says.
Almost every type of exercise was beneficial, and Singh emphasises that one exercise isn’t better than another, but Pilates and tai chi showed particularly strong results. So did dance-based exercise, but the evidence was limited.
Low-intensity but consistent
Piccoli’s experience echoes the new study’s findings that emphasise workouts needn’t be strenuous to be effective pain relief. A lower-intensity exercise and a program lasting under 12 weeks correlates with greater pain reduction.
“For someone living with persistent pain, even the thought of exercise can feel overwhelming. But our findings suggest that gentle, manageable movement can make a real difference,” Singh says.
“When it comes to managing pain, moving more doesn’t always mean feeling better.”
Singh believes that health practitioners should be prescribing specific exercises for patients managing pain.
“Rather than simply telling patients to ‘stay active’, doctors could provide more specific exercise recommendations tailored to their condition, abilities and preferences,” he says.
Nicolette Ellis, chair of Chronic Pain Australia and a pharmacist specialising in chronic pain, agrees that effective pain care must be a tailored approach.
“Practical support to help people introduce and sustain it remains underused. Being told to ‘stay active’ is very different from being shown how to move when movement hurts,” Ellis says.
The new research is congruent with what Chronic Pain Australia hears from its community: lower-intensity programs appear to be more beneficial.
Getting into a consistent routine, however, can still come with challenges.
“‘Boom and bust’ means doing more on a good day, triggering a flare-up and then needing extended recovery,” Ellis explains.
“Avoidance can develop when exercise or even simple chores repeatedly increase pain, making people understandably apprehensive about going back.
“We commonly hear from people who have been deterred from exercise because basic pain management principles were not applied, and they were left in more pain, with less confidence to try again.”
With pain relief movement, simply “pushing through” can undermine rehabilitation.
“People need to be taught how to move with pain, pace activity and build capacity without repeatedly overwhelming themselves,” Ellis says.
“Speak up if the plan is leaving you in more pain or reducing your ability to function. Your experience should inform adjustments to your care.”
Since starting dance classes 18 months ago, Piccoli hasn’t looked back, rarely missing a session because of how it makes her body feel.
“Doing it is fun. I enjoy the music. I enjoy the company,” she says.
Piccoli’s even convinced her friends to join in and occasionally, her husband of almost 70 years, Angelo, goes along too.
Even if she doesn’t consider herself the best dancer in the class, she intends to continue attending because of how much it has improved her quality of life: “I’m not a great dancer, but I love dancing.”
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Abby Seaman is a digital producer and lifestyle writer at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
