Influence of Kinesiophobia on muscle endurance in patients with chronic low back pain- A case-control study

Background Patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) frequently present with kinesiophobia. Although kinesiophobia is found to affect outcomes such as affect pain and quality of life in patients with CLBP, it is unclear whether kinesiophobia is linked to reduction of muscle endurance in these patients. The primary aim of the study was to analyze the impact of kinesiophobia on lumbar extensor endurance in patients with CLBP and asymptomatic individuals. Methods This case-control study was proceeded with 200 patients with CLBP and 400 controls. Kinesiophobia, lumbar endurance and Pain intensity were assessed with Tampa Scale, Soren’s lumbar extensor test and visual analog scale respectively. Regression model was administered to explore the relationship between kinesiophobia and lumbar extensor endurance. Results Prevalence of kinesiophobia was found to be higher in patients with CLBP (30%) than in controls (11%) which is (6.49 ± 0.52, d= 1.07) more in CLBP than controls. Lumbar endurance was significantly lower in CLBP than controls (-20.5±6.84), further affected by the presence of kinesiophobia as lumbar endurance was negatively correlated (r = - 0.09) to Kinesiophobia. Moreover, VAS (r = 0.2) was positively correlated with kinesiophobia in patients with CLBP. Discussion and conclusion A high prevalence of kinesiophobia was reported by patients with CLBP. The presence of kinesiophobia exhibited strong linear relationship with lumbar endurance, and pain intensity among patients with CLBP. Hence management of CLBP should comprise of an assessment of kinesiophobia and appropriate treatment strategies to address it in preventing persistent CLBP. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT05079893 Registered on 14/10/2021.