An Investigation of the Relationship Between Psychosocial Characteristics of the Individuals with Severe Non-Specific Chronic Neck Pain and Their Neck Awareness, Body Awareness, Neck Disability Status, and Life Quality

Purpose: Only a small number of studies provide a comprehensive assessment of the factors involved in severe non-specific neck pain. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the psychosocial characteristics of individuals with severe non-specific neck pain and their neck awareness, body awareness, neck disability status and life quality.

Method: Thirty individuals (mean age = 40.47±7.16) with severe non-specific neck pain participated in the study. The severity of pain, psychosocial characteristics, kinesiophobia, neck and body awareness, neck disability and quality of life were measured by Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK), Fremantle Neck Awareness Questionnaire (FreNAQ), Cervical Joint Position Error (CJPE) test, Body Awareness Questionnaire (BAQ), Neck Disability Index (NDI), and Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), respectively.

Results: Significant correlations were detected between anxiety and depression levels and NHP and emotional reaction (p<0.05). In addition, significant correlations were found between the fear of movement and pain severity, neck awareness, overall NHP score, NHP-emotional reaction, and NHP-social isolation (p<0.05).

Conclusion: In individuals with severe non-specific chronic neck pain, a high fear of movement negatively affected neck awareness, quality of life, social participation, and emotional state.

Key Words: Chronic neck pain, Kinesiophobia, Neck awareness, Quality of life