Defining chronic pain for high-performance athletes with disabilities

The extensive training and the sacrifices athletes make to compete at the Olympic games take center stage. For Paralympians and high-performance athletes with spinal cord injuries (SCI), assessing chronic pain plays a key role in their training and readiness to compete. However, the source of chronic pain is often misattributed to acute trauma or overuse injuries. While the International Olympic Committee acknowledges pain management data among Paralympians and athletes with disabilities is limited, few studies have been launched investigating this dilemma.