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Pessimistic beliefs and no exercise can lead to more back pain
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Patients with back pain who have pessimistic beliefs about the future as a consequence of their pain, coupled with little to no exercise, can experience more shoulder, neck and back pain in the future compared with those who exercise and have less pessimistic beliefs, researchers said here.
According to Anne F. Mannion, PhD, baseline back beliefs questionnaire (BBQ) scores among patients reporting pain at baseline showed statistically significant accuracy in predicting the intensity of shoulder, back and neck pain at 1-year follow-up. The BBQ did not accurately predict pain for those who had no pain at baseline.
“These findings confirm the longitude and validity of the BBQ. We believe cognitive behavioral interventions with education and exercise programs might serve to reduce the impact of back pain,” she said.
Anne F. Mannion
The study included 2,507 randomly selected patients. The researchers evaluated the associations between BBQ scores and the neck, back and shoulder pain scores reported at baseline and at 1-year follow up.
The greatest predictive strength of back beliefs came from patients who did not exercise and reported pain at baseline, Mannion said. – by Robert Linnehan
Reference: Mannion AF, et al. Paper #2. Presented at: EuroSpine Annual Meeting; Sept. 2-4, 2015; Copenhagen, Denmark.
Disclosures: Mannion reports no relevant financial disclosures.