Aerobic or weight lifting exercise has been noted to reduce pain sensitivity, an effect termed exercise induced hypoalgesia. This study evaluated whether short bouts of maximal anaerobic exercise would result in analgesic effects on induced pain and whether noxious stimulus at one location could lead to reduced perceptions of pain in another location.

Fifty health individuals were randomized to either a control group or the Wingate Anaerobic test (WAT) group. The WAT involved 30 seconds of maximum effort pedaling on stationary bikes. Immediately after performing the WAT, participants were asked to verbally rate their leg muscle pain using the 0–100 NPS, and then tested for heat, cold and pressure induced pain. The effect of stimuli at two sites on perceived pain was measured by applying noxious stimuli at a remote body part while perceived pain to a separate noxious stimulus was measured. The aerobic group was compared to the control group.

Compared to the controls those in the WAT had decreased ratings of their perceived pain to heat and cold stimuli (P<0.001), had higher pain pressure thresholds (P<0.001), and had decreased pain at measured sites when distal noxious stimuli were applied (P＝0.029)．

This study suggests that engagement in 30 seconds of maximal anaerobic effort will lead to acute analgesic effects.