The meaning of physical pain in practice of sport performance

This study aimed to understand the meanings related to physical pain present in lived experience of women athletes. Therefore, 52 women athletes of indoor soccer, basketball and volleyball reported their perceptions about the experience of pain through the use of questionnaires and interviews. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and content analysis of Bardin. The pain has presented as a parameter to the source of pleasurable experiences, it identified as a body’s response to training, which allows identification the range of maximum effort, but also as an agent limiting and disabling of sports, especially during the competition.

Pain; Sport; Athletes; Women