Correlation among pain intensity, disability and posture displacements in women with chronic neck and back pain

Abstract

Introduction. Recently, the prevalence of chronic pain has increased. Chronic lower back pain occurs commonly, furthermore the number of chronic neck pain cases are also increasing. Despite the pain affecting an enormous percentage of the population, the reasons causing chronic lower back or neck pain prevalence are not well known yet. (1,2). Whilst investigating the causes of pain more and more correlations between pain and biomechanics (3), muscle imbalance (4) or postural displacements (5) are being discovered. However no specific position of parts or segments of the body are determined to be related with chronic pain (1). Research aim. To determine the relationship between pain intensity, disability and posture displacements in women with chronic neck and back pain. Subjects and methods: 29 female clients of a physical therapy center participated in this study. The inclusion criteria used were age (from 30 to 45 years old) and pain duration (at least 3 months), while exclusion criteria used were pain intensity (more than 8 points according to Numeric Pain Rating Scale), history of spine surgery and consumption of analgesic medicines. Research methods and organization. 1. Questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted questions about subjects age, pain duration, health history etc. 2. Evaluation of pain intensity. To evaluate lower back and neck pain intensity we used the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) in which a respondent had to select a number from 0 to 10 that best reflects the intensity of their pain (0 – no pain; 10- worst possible pain). 3. Evaluation of disability. To assess the limitations of various activities of daily living caused by pain the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire was used. The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was derived from the questionnaire. The greater was the index, the lower was the level of function in activities of daily living. 4. Evaluation of posture. To evaluate posture displace