# metadata.dc.contributor.other[].value
Universitat de Barcelona. Institut Nacional d'Educació Física de Catalunya (INEFC) - Barcelona

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
[eng]  This present document includes a doctoral thesis prepared at the University of Barcelona. This thesis was developed as a compendium of publications resulting from the accomplishments of the 3-year pre-doctoral studies. It consists of seven chapters. Chapter 1 includes two sections: a general one which delineates the history and most relevant scientific queries related to pain induced by exercise (sections 1.1, 1.2, 1.3) and a second one which focuses on a nonlinear dynamic approach to pain and attention under the framework of the psychobiological model of exercise-induced fatigue (section 1.4). The Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5 include four research examples related to the topic. Chapter 6 discusses main research findings. Finally Chapter 7 provides conclusions and future lines of the research on the development of a Nonlinear psychobiological model of exercise-induced fatigue from a standpoint of the NDST.
Exercising above certain intensity and duration elicits feelings of discomfort and pain. As pain is related to exercise tolerance and task disengagement previous studies have focused on pain intensity measurements but have not payed attention on its locations cfynamics. Pain location dynamics provide a possibility to explore how fatigue spreads throughout the body, to identify pain distribution and its individual patterns as well as to search the temporal organization of subjective experiences (qualia), which remain largely understudied up until now. The psychobiological model of exercise induced fatigue has highlighted the presence of nonlinear features studying the dynamics of thoughts and perceived exertion in the course of constant and incremental exercises performed until exhaustion. In order to understand better the psychobiological mechanisms of exercise-induced fatigue and design adequate interventions to increase the exercise tolerance, this thesis proposes considering the study of pain dynamics and attention in alternative settings with the following objectives in mind: a) to delineate the pain and discomfort location dynamics during constant cycling and running performed until exhaustion, b) to detect individual pain patterns during these tasks, c) to examine the potential presence of nested metastable pain-attention
 
dynamics during incremental cycling performed until exhaustion, d) to compare the effects of indoor and outdoor environments on attention focus and cycling  endurance.
For the purpose of this thesis, all participants were tested while cycling and/or running at constant or incremental power until exhaustion. Pain and discomfort locations were self-monitored and reported every 1Ss using a SO-item pain body map. Self-caught measurements and self-selected key words were used together with an experimenter-classified method to monitor the attention focus in indoor and outdoor conditions.
Present results revealed that: a) the number of body locations with perceived pain increased throughout the effort expenditure, b) three consistent pain dynamic patterns were identified during constant cycling and running (i.e., adders, adders/jumpers and jumpers), c) pain-attention dynamics during incremental exercise was metastable and temporarily nested, d) outdoor environment compared to indoor, improved endurance and increased the use of external thoughts.
In conclusion, the thesis highlights the metastable dynamics of the body-mind-environment interaction during constant and incremental exercises performed until exhaustion and reinforces the presence of the nonlinear features pointed by the psychobiological model of exercise induced fatigue. The pain-attention temporal nestedness and the proposed taxonomy based on attention-driven mechanisms may be a fruitful avenue to pursue for future investigation. Moreover, the dynamic approach may help practitioners to design adequate interventions to increase exercise endurance and tolerance within different settings and can be used for studying alternative clinical/medical pain presentations.

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[cat]  L'exercici intens i durador provoca sensació de malestar i dolor. Com el dolor està relacionat amb la tolerancia a l'esforç: els estudis previs han centrat l'atenció en mesurar la intensitat de dolor sense considerar la seva evolució espai temporal. La dinàmica de localització del dolor possibilita estudiar com la fatiga s'estén en el cos, els patrons individuals de distribució d'aquest dolor, i l'organització temporal de les experiències subjectives ("qualia"), inexplorada fins ara. El model psicobiològic de la fatiga induïda per l'exercici destaca la presència de no linealitat en la dinàmica dels pensaments i de la percepció de l'esforç: durant exercicis realitzats fins l'esgotament. Aquesta tesi vol explorar el dolor i l'atenció en diferents entorns amb els seguents objectius: a) delimitar la dinàmica de localització del dolor durant l'exercici, b) detectar patrons individuals d'aquest dolor, c) examinar la potencial presència d'una dinàmica metastable niada de la relació  dolor-atenció,
d) comparar els efectes d'ambients oberts i tancats en el focus d'atenció i la resistència.


Tots els participants van realitzar proves de pedaleig o carrera a intensitat constant o incremental fins l'esgotament. La localització del dolor va ser auto-monitoritzada i informada cada 15s a travès d'un mapa del cos de SO-elements. Mesures "self-caught" i paraules clau auto-seleccionades es van utilitzar per monitoritzar els pensaments en entorns  oberts i tancats.

Els resultats obtinguts van mostrar que a) el nombre de llocs dolorosos augmenta amb l'acumulació d'esforç, b) la dinamica de localitzacions del dolor permet identificar tres tipus de patrons individuals consistents durant el pedaleig i la carrera continus ("adders", "adder/jumpers" i "jumpers", c) la dinàmica de la relació dolor-atenció durant l'exercici incremental és metastable i temporalment niada, i d) en entorns oberts, respecte als tancats, millora la resistencia i augmenta l'ús de pensaments externs. En conclusió, la tesi destaca la dinàmica d'interacció metastable entre cos, ment i ambient durant l'exercici constant i incremental realitzat fins l'esgotament. Els resultats poden ajudar a dissenyar intervencions dirigides a augmentar la resistència i a regular l'exercici en diferents entorns. També poden ser utilitzats per estudiar altres tipus de dolor clínicament rellevants.

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Tesis Doctorals - Institut Nacional d'Educació Física de Catalunya (INEFC) - Barcelona