Elsevier

Manual Therapy

Volume 4, Issue 4, November 1999, Pages 187-195
Manual Therapy

Masterclass
Fear of movement/(re)injury, avoidance and pain disability in chronic low back pain patients

https://doi.org/10.1054/math.1999.0199Get rights and content

Abstract

Chronic pain syndromes such as chronic low back pain are responsible for enormous costs for health care and society. For these conditions a pure biomedical approach often proves insufficient. Numerous studies have shown that there is little direct relationship between pain and disability and suggest that the biopsychosocial approach offers the foundations for a better insight in how pain can become a persistent problem. The main assumption is that pain and pain disability are not only influenced by organic pathology, if found, but also by psychological and social factors. In this contribution, a behavioural analysis of chronic musculoskeletal pain will be discussed, with special attention to the role of pain-related fear in the development and maintenance of chronic pain disability, and the behavioural rehabilitation perspective of chronic pain management.

References (65)

  • MW Van Tulder et al.

    A cost-of-illness study of back pain in the Netherlands

    Pain

    (1995)
  • J WS Vlaeyen et al.

    Fear of movement/(re)injury in chronic low back pain and its relation to behavioural performance

    Pain

    (1995)
  • J WS Vlaeyen et al.

    Fear of movement/(re)injury and muscular reactivity in chronic low back pain patients: an experimental investigation

    Pain

    (1999)
  • G Waddell et al.

    A Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) and the role of fear-avoidance beliefs in chronic low back pain and disability

    Pain

    (1993)
  • HK Beecher

    Measurement of subjective responses

    (1959)
  • WM Bortz

    The disuse syndrome

    Western Journal of Medicine

    (1984)
  • AK Burton et al.

    Psychosocial predictors of outcome in acute and subchronic low back trouble

    Spine

    (1995)
  • G Crombez et al.

    Avoidance and confrontation of painful, back straining movements in chronic back pain patients

    behaviour Modification

    (1998)
  • G Crombez et al.

    Fear of pain is more disabling than pain itself

    Evidence on the role of pain-related fear in chronic back pain disability Pain

    (1999)
  • G CL Davey

    Phobias

    A handbook of theory, research and treatment

    (1997)
  • G CL Davey et al.

    Catastrophic worrying as a function of changes in problem-solving confidence

    Cognitive Therapy and Research

    (1996)
  • M Feuerstein

    A multidisciplinary approach to the prevention, evaluation, and management of work disability

    Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation

    (1991)
  • H Flor et al.

    Assessment of stress-related psychophysiological reactions in chronic back pain patients

    Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

    (1985)
  • H Flor et al.

    Symptom-specific psychophysiological responses in chronic pain patients

    Psychophysiology

    (1992)
  • WE Fordyce

    Behavioural methods for chronic pain and illness

    (1976)
  • WE Fordyce et al.

    The modification of avoidance learning in pain behaviours

    Journal of Behavioural Medicine

    (1982)
  • WE Fordyce et al.

    A control group comparison of behavioural versus traditional management methods in acute low back pain

    Journal of Behavioural Medicine

    (1986)
  • RJ Gatchel et al.

    Psychological approaches to pain management

    A practitioner's handbook

    (1996)
  • Pain supplement

    (1986)
  • MC Jensen et al.

    Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine in people without back pain

    New England Journal of Medicine

    (1994)
  • SH Kaplan et al.

    Assessing the effects of physician-patient interactions on the outcomes of chronic disease

    Medical Care

    (1989)
  • AE Kazdin

    Behaviour modification in applied settings (revised edn)

    (1980)
  • Cited by (180)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    f1

    Johan W. S. Vlaeyen, PhD, Department of Medical, Clinical and Experimental Psychology, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.

    Correspondence to JWSV.

    f2

    Geert Crombez, Department of Psychology, University of Gent, Belgium.

    View full text