Comparison of those with high versus low kinesiophobia on the lower body positive pressure treadmill

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Individuals living with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) tend to have difficulty with various daily activities, including squatting, stair climbing, and walking.1–3 An important activity barrier identified by individuals with KOA is exercise-induced pain. Individuals with KOA often have increased walking disability, with decreases in both gait velocity and endurance, as well as increased pain with walking.1,3 Kinesiophobia, fear of movement, is a maladaptive strategy that causes the avoidance of physical activity because of pain-related fear.4,5 Damsgard et al. studied increased pain with activity in individuals with chronic musculoskeletal conditions.6 These authors reported that increased pain during activity was present in 66% of participants with chronic pain and that fear of movement was a significant factor associated with increased pain during activity. Lower body positive pressure treadmills (LBPPT) use air pressure to decrease body weight while an individual is walking or running. There is a decrease in pain during walking on an LBPPT in patients with KOA, compared with an increase in pain while walking on a regular treadmill for the same amount of time.7,8 The purpose of the present study was to the compare the within-group and between-group pain responses and walking speeds with an unweighted walking protocol of subjects with high kinesiophobia versus subjects with low kinesiophobia.

Publication Date

2023

Publication Title

Pain Medicine

Publisher

Oxford

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnad021

Start Page No.

1

End Page No.

3

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