it’s not the pain itself, but how well people cope with it that largely determines activity levels. This underscores the central role of pain resilience, which continued to be a key predictor of activity even after accounting for pain intensity, emphasising the need to build resilience rather than focus solely on reducing pain.
Dr Niederstrasser, from the University’s Faculty of Science and Health, said: “What we found is that it’s not how much pain you’re in that determines whether you stay physically active – it’s how you think about and respond to that pain, indicating that how individuals respond to and think about pain matters more than their actual pain sensitivity.