Musculoskeletal pain, especially those of the joints and muscle, is perhaps one of biggest cause of debility and chronic pain as we age.

Dr. Nils Niederstrasser and colleagues at the University of Portsmouth published a study in PLOS One examining how activities relate to the development of chronic musculoskeletal pain.

They used data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, following 5,802 subjects over the age of fifty for over ten years. Within this period, approximately half experienced musculoskeletal pain.

Activity intensities were broken down into vigorous, moderate, and mild.

Vigorous activities included tennis, running, swimming, digging, or any physical labor.

Moderate intensity activités included dancing, walking, stretching, and gardening.

Mild activités included laundering, vacuuming, and other easy house chores or DIY projects.

The researchers found that all activity of any levels of intensity lower the chances of developing chronic pain. However, as time goes on, only vigorous intensity physical activities appeared to lower risk of someone developing chronic musculoskeletal pain. And these activities need to be done at least once a week.

“Such activity—any activity—does help people stay well and feel better than not exercising, but mild exercise does not appear to have a long-term effect on the development of chronic pain,” stated Dr. Niederstrasser.

The authors also found that being women and obese also increased the risk of developing chronic musculoskeletal pain.

So where you go gentlemen, get exercising, vigorously, and daily. Don’t let people bullshit you into thinking walking and doing chores around the house is exercise.

N Niederstrasser and N Attridge. Associations between pain and physical activity among older adults. PLOS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263356