The Effect of Chewing Gum on Modulating Pain Responses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how chewing gum modulates pain response by observing physiological changes associated with pain. Measures of heart rate (HR), mean arterial blood pressure (MABP), and respiratory rate (RR) were recorded while undergoing a cold pressor test (CPT), a standard procedure used for measuring pain responses. Based on the suggested ability to induce anti-nociceptive response, gum chewing was tested as a tool for modulating pain in twenty subjects between the ages of 20-25. We hypothesized that chewing gum while undergoing the CPT would minimize typical increases in HR, RR, and MABP associated with pain perception and yield higher pain thresholds and tolerances in subjects undergoing the test. Physiological responses were measured under four conditions: 1. -CG/-CPT, 2. -CG/+CPT, 3. +CG/-CPT, and 4. +CG/+CPT. A statistically significant difference in heart rate (p= 0.005) was measured between positive control condition 2 and experimental condition 4. Although chewing gum did not show statistically significant improvements in pain threshold or tolerance in this study, overall trends in improvement of tolerance provide motivation for further study.