The impact of exercise and psychotherapy on psychosocial outcomes for patients with chronic pain

J Anesth. 2025 Jun 8. doi: 10.1007/s00540-025-03523-9. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study aimed to quantitatively evaluate the characteristics of patients with chronic pain and differences in their responses to different treatment approaches.

METHODS: A retrospective review was performed regarding patients with chronic pain who visited an interdisciplinary pain treatment centre between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2023. The patients were categorised into four groups based on the treatment received: a conventional therapy group treated by medical doctors, an exercise therapy group received additional exercise therapy, a psychotherapy group received additional psychotherapy, and an interdisciplinary treatment group received additional exercise therapy and psychotherapy. Responses to pain-related and psychosocial questionnaire results were compared between baseline and six months post-treatment.

RESULTS: Of the 1,967 initial participants, 239 patients met the eligibility criteria and their data were included in the analysis. In the Conventional therapy group, the indicators showed improvement in pain symptoms, excluding the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Depression (HADS-D) scores. In the Exercise therapy group, significant improvements in PSEQ (from 28.15 to 33.34, p < 0.001) and HADS-D (from 7.17 to 6.35, p = 0.035) scores were documented. HADS-Anxiety scores decreased in the Psychotherapy group from 10.36 to 7.91 (p = 0.028). The Interdisciplinary treatment group showed a significant reduction in pain catastrophizing scale scores (from 35.15 to 26.31, p = 0.038).

CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated that exercise therapy, psychotherapy, and interdisciplinary approaches might contribute to improvements in psychosocial outcomes amongst patients with chronic pain. Although the effects of exercise therapy were more consistent, psychotherapy and interdisciplinary treatment demonstrated potential benefits.

PMID:40483632 | DOI:10.1007/s00540-025-03523-9