The relationships between pain beliefs and kinesiophobia and clinical parameters in Turkish patients with chronic knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study

Objective: To investigate the relationships of pain beliefs with clinical/functional status and kinesiophobia in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Acibadem Hospitals Group, Istanbul, Turkey, between May 2015 and April 2016, and comprised chronic patients who were either overweight or obese. Patients were evaluated using visual analogue scale, Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index, Lequesne Index (LI), Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia and the Pain Beliefs Questionnaire. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 15. Results: Of the 78 patients, there were 10(13%) males, 68(87%) females with an overall mean age of 56.09 +/- 11.79 years and mean body mass index of 29.3 +/- 4.91. There were moderate positive correlations among kinesiophobia, pain and functional scores, while organic pain beliefs had a moderate positive correlation with body mass index scores and positive weak correlations with clinical/functional status scores and kinesiophobia (p<0.05 each). There were no associations between the organic subscale and psychological subscale of the Pain Beliefs Questionnaire (p>0.05). Conclusion: Possible fear of movement and pain belief should be taken into consideration in the management of patients with knee osteoarthritis.