Pain-related fear of (re-)injury in patients with low back pain: Estimation or measurement in manual therapy primary care practice? A pilot study

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Oostendorp, Rob A.B.^{a; b; c; *} | Elvers, Hans^{d; e} | Mikolajewska, Emilia^{f; g} | Laekeman, Marjan^h | Roussel, Nathalie^{c; i} | van der Zanden, Olaf^{a; j} | Nijs, Jo^{c; k} | Samwel, Han^l

Affiliations: [a] Department of Manual Therapy, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium | [b] Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands | [c] Pain in Motion International Research Group (www.paininmotion.be), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium | [d] Department of Public Health and Research, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands | [e] Methodological Health-Skilled Institute, Beuningen, The Netherlands | [f] Department of Physiotherapy, Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland | [g] Neurocognitive Laboratory, Centre for Modern Interdisciplinary Technologies, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland | [h] Department of Nursing Sciences, Faculty of Health, University Witten/Herdecke, Witten, Germany | [i] Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium | [j] Healthcare Center TopZorg Weert, Topfysiotherapie van der Zanden, Weert, The Netherlands | [k] Department of Physiotherapy, Physiology and Anatomy, Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium | [l] Department of Medical Psychology, Canisius – Wilhelmina Hospital, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Rob A.B. Oostendorp, p/a Oude Kleefsebaan 325, 6572 AT Berg en Dal, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 24 6423419; E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Manual physical therapists (MPTs) working in primary care get limited information about patient’s courses of (chronic) low back pain (LBP). Identification of kinesiophobia is mostly based on clinical perception. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the scores with which manual physical therapists in a primary care setting identify kinesiophobia in patients with low back pain, and the patients’ self-reported measures of kinesiophobia. METHODS: The cross-sectional study comprised 104 patients with LBP and 17 MPTs. Patients first independently completed the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK-17). The therapists, blinded to the TSK-scores, rated their perception of a patient’s kinesiophobia using the Visual Analogue Scale-Estimation (VAS-est) and the accuracy of their ratings using the Visual Analogue Scale-Accuracy (VAS-ac). Kendall’s tau b was used to determine the level of correlation between scores on the TSK-17 and the VAS-est.

DOI: 10.3233/BMR-169651

Journal: Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 1273-1284, 2017