Article

This pilot study systematically examined the correlations between the
outcome variables pain intensity, disability and health-related quality of life
(HRQOL) and between these outcomes and known psychological risk factors for
chronic low back pain (CLBP), such as depression, trait anxiety, avoidance- and
endurance-related pain responses at two different assessment points.
METHOD: Data
from 52 CLBP inpatients treated in an orthopedic clinic were investigated at two
points in time: during the first days after admission and 6 months after the
termination of the inpatient treatment. Bivariate relationships between pain
intensity, disability, HRQOL and psychological variables were examined with the
help of Pearson product moment correlations. Furthermore, the differences that
exist between correlations at baseline and follow-up were tested for
significance. RESULTS: Significant and large differences were found between the
correlations with low correlations at baseline and high correlations at the
follow-up. Furthermore, HRQOL showed a positive correlation with
endurance-related and a negative correlation with avoidance-related pain
responses. CONCLUSIONS: Focusing on a systematic comparison of two significant
assessment time points in CLBP with an acute exacerbation at baseline, the
results of this study underlined the recurrent course of LBP. The results
highlight that the assessment time points play an important role in CLBP.
IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: * Low back pain is a major public health problem
with high direct and indirect back-pain-related costs. * Chronic low back pain is
a disabling disease which restricts quality of life. * Psychological factors may
have a larger impact on disability and quality of life than pain itself. * The recurrent course of low back pain highlights the importance of multidisciplinary
pain management even during acute exacerbations of pain.

Langue : ANGLAIS