What ’ s the relationship between pain intensity and functional limitations?

This question comes up from time to time as some commentators strive to “find the cause and fix the problem at all cost.” The argument is that if pain was gone, the person would simply return to their old life just as they were. And for what it’s worth, there’s certainly a relationship between pain intensity and disability, and pain intensity and distress – but it’s not simple. One of the earliest papers I read when I was beginning my pain management career is one by Waddell, Main, Morris, Di Paola & Gray (1984). Gordon Waddell was an orthopaedic surgeon with an interest in low back pain – and an equal interest in what people do when they’re sore. In collaboration with Chris Main and others, he examined 200 people referred from family doctors for low back pain, and analysed psychological questionnaires administered to this same group. The process this team used to establish the results was rigorous by any standard, but especially rigorous at the time: they carried out pilot interviews and exams on 182 people, then carried out a further analysis of impairment and disability on a different group of 160 people, conducted this study with 200 people, and further cross-checked with a second group of 120 people. What did the team find? Well, putting aside (for now*) the judgements about “inappropriate responses” to examinations and “magnified illness behaviour” they found that people who were...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Tags: Pain Research Science in practice biopsychosocial Clinical reasoning pain management Source Type: blogs