Matthew Jones


About Matthew Jones

I am an Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP) and PhD student at Neuroscience Research Australia and the University of New South Wales. My area of research concerns exercise and pain, specifically the mechanisms by which exercise reduces pain in both healthy individuals and in individuals living with chronic pain.

Aerobic exercise reduces pressure pain more than heat pain in healthy adults 2

Exercise-induced hypoalgesia is a reduction in pain that occurs during or following a single bout of exercise (Naugle et al, 2012). When researchers test exercise-induced hypoalgesia, they briefly induce painful stimuli to research participants to see if pain sensitivity changes after exercise. Different types of painful stimuli have been used […]


Pain education increases pain thresholds after exercise

In people with chronic pain, the interactions between exercise and pain are complex. On one hand, regular exercise may be one of the most effective treatments because it consistently improves pain, function and quality of life (Geneen et al., 2017). On the other hand, a single session of exercise, such […]


Exercise reduces pain through a peripheral mechanism in healthy adults 1

In healthy adults, it is well demonstrated that a single bout of exercise can acutely reduce pain (Naugle et al., 2012), a phenomenon known as exercise-induced hypoalgesia. However, the mechanisms of pain reduction after exercise are not clear. The methods commonly used to study pain responses after exercise in humans […]


Do fitter people experience less pain?

Regular exercise is well demonstrated to relieve pain in people with chronic pain (Busch et al, 2007) but exactly how exercise helps is not known. A growing body of evidence shows people with chronic pain who are fitter and more physically active experience less pain. Similar associations are apparent in […]


Aerobic exercise training increases pain tolerance

It is well demonstrated that a single bout of exercise can cause short-term reductions in pain, a phenomenon referred to as exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH) (Naugle et al. 2012). However, the effect of chronic exercise training on pain is less clear, as are the mechanisms that mediate EIH. A greater understanding […]