SATURDAY, Oct. 25, 2025 (HealthDay News) — People with chronic pain who stay active may have one key advantage: Resilience.

A new study from the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. found that one’s ability to cope with pain, also known as pain resilience, plays a bigger role in maintaining physical activity than the amount of pain they experience.

"What we found is that it's not how much pain you're in that determines whether you stay physically active — it's how you think about and respond to that pain," lead author Nils Niederstrasser , a lecturer in the university’s school of psychology, sport and health sciences, said in a news release.

The findings were published Oct. 22 in the journal PLOS One .

Researchers analyzed data from 172 adults with chronic pain to better understa

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