Chronic musculoskeletal pain is a key societal challenge in Ireland, affecting one in 3 adults over the age of 55, and with societal and healthcare costs of over €5.34 billion per year (Raftery et al, 2012). Physical activity can form a key part of the management of chronic pain, along with providing a myriad of health enhancing and disease prevention benefits for older adults. However, pain limits engagement with physical activity, meaning the negative impacts of chronic pain for older adults are widespread and costly for individuals and society. Public and Patient engagement for this study has identified that people with chronic pain fear exacerbation of their symptoms with exercise and value having an experienced exercise leader who understands their needs.
In partnership with Chronic Pain Ireland and Limerick Sports Partnership, we propose to develop a community-based group exercise intervention to meet the needs of older adults with chronic pain. The first stage of this is to provide training for community exercise trainers in supporting people with chronic pain to engage successfully in exercise. A set of community-based exercise classes will be co-designed with our partners and will be delivered by the newly educated trainers. We will assess the feasibility of the intervention, to prepare for a future definitive trial to test its effectiveness. This feasibility study will randomise participants to the exercise group or to a control group, where they will receive physical activity advice and continue with usual care for their pain. We will evaluate feasibility outcomes in relation to recruitment and retention rates, along with adverse effects. As secondary outcomes we will measure changes from baseline in pain, disability, physical activity level, and emotional wellbeing. We will conduct focus groups with the participants and exercise trainers to determine their views on the intervention and trial procedures. If this intervention is deemed effective in a future definitive trial, it can be easily scaled up nationally within the network of Sports Partnerships.
