Relationships Between Cervical Range of Motion, Self-Rated Disability and Fear of Movement Beliefs in Chronic Neck Pain Patients

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between impairment [cervical ranges of motion [CROMs]], self-reported disability, and fear of movement beliefs in chronic neck pain patients. Methods: Data was obtained from a convenience sample of chronic neck pain patients in private clinics. CROMs were obtained using a CROM device, self-rated disability was measured using the neck disability index [NDI], and fear of movement beliefs was measured using the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia [TSK]. Age, gender, and duration of neck pain were also obtained. Bivariate and multivariate statistics were employed. Results: Thirty-five participants with a mean age of 42.3 years and neck pain duration of 4.75 [4.61] years completed the study. The average scores for the outcome measures were: NDI = 26 percent, TSK = 51 percent, and total CROM = 288 degrees. The NDI correlated with the TSK at 0.50 [P = 0.006]. The correlation between the NDI and total ROM was -0.58 [P = 0.0003] while the correlation between total ROM and the TSK just failed to reach significance [-0.32; P = 0.06]. In the multivariate analysis, only the NDI loaded significantly onto the total ROM and explained 29 percent of the variance of ROM on its own. Conclusion: In this study, self-rated disability in chronic neck pain patients was found to correlate with fear-avoidance beliefs and with a measure of impairment - ranges of motion in the cervical spine. When evaluating reductions in ranges of cervical motion in chronic neck pain patients, the effect of their self-ratings of disability should be considered.