Exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH) is a large and growing area of research due to its broad application, including to acute and chronic pain populations, elite athletes, healthy populations and populations with suboptimal levels of physical activity. Despite a growing evidence base, however, reviews of EIH continue to conclude that the quality of evidence is very low across all population groups.
A number of reviews have cited poor reporting as a key limitation in interpretating and extrapolating findings. This has prompted calls for greater reporting consistency, with particular emphasis on the reporting of participant characteristics, exercise protocols, assessment measurement techniques, statistical analysis and presentation of results.
It is therefore proposed that standardised, consensus guidelines would promote EIH research that can be more readily interpreted, evaluated and applied. Due to the complexities across participant characteristics, methodological design and analysis that impact EIH outcomes, input from international experts through a modified Delphi consensus project is proposed as the most suitable means to develop an appropriate reporting template and promote its adoption in future research. Registered: 12 November 2026
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Contact: Simon Summers Email: [email protected]