Pain and Distraction in Athletes and Non-Athletes

48 female Ss were divided into an athletic and a non-athletic group for the purpose of ascertaining differences on the parameters of pain threshold, pain tolerance, distracted pain tolerance, neuromuscular skill, and distracted neuromuscular skill. Distraction failed to raise tolerance to pain, although pain adversely affected the skill performance of both groups. Athletes demonstrated a higher pain tolerance than did non-athletes.