Introduction: Exercise holds the potential to be beneficial if used during vaccination processes by 1)exercise-induced analgesia to reduce pain associated with vaccination, 2)immune-enhancing effects, improving antibody responses to the vaccine, and 3)reducing local and systemic adverse reactions to the vaccine. This study examines whether analgesic responses could be enhanced locally in the exercising limb to further benefit the use of exercise during influenza vaccination processes to minimize vaccine-related pain and improve antibody response to inactivated influenza vaccines.Methods: 57 participants (22.6 ± 3.2 years, 33 females) randomized into a control (n = 19) or one of two exercise groups: pre-vaccine arm (n = 19) or pre-vaccine leg (n = 19). Intervention groups performed exercise (15 minutes), prior to administration of the vaccine. Vaccine-related pain and pressure pain threshold (PPT) were measured at baseline and post-vaccination for all groups. Blood samples were taken on the day of vaccination and one month later to measure serum antibody titers to influenza.Results: No significant difference in vaccine-related pain or change in PPT was found with exercise, however, there was a trend in higher reports of vaccine-related pain in females compared to males(p = .06). Significantly higher fold increase (p = .02) of the B/Brisbane/60/2008 strain was found in the exercise group compared to the control group.Conclusion: The current study failed to observe an analgesic effect of exercise to improve vaccine-related pain in young adults. However, immune-enhancing effects in one of four strains suggest potential adjuvant effects of exercise. Importantly, the sex difference in pain sensitivity suggests the need for separate analysis, especially when examining pain perception.Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN:12617000374369).
Keywords: Influenza vaccine; exercise-induced analgesia; intervention; serology; sex difference; young adult.