Association between pain drawing and psychological factors in musculoskeletal chronic pain: A systematic review

ABSTRACT

Background: It has been speculated that there is an association between pain area and psychological factors in chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions; however, this relation is not well established. Purpose: To investigate the association between pain distribution and psychological factors in chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions. Study Design: Systematic review. Methods: We searched the following databases using optimized search strategies: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science and Cochrane. Studies were included if they investigated the relation between pain area using a pain drawing (PD) and psychological factors measured by any consistent available method. Results: Eleven articles were included. A total of 1301 participants with different musculoskeletal pain conditions, including low back pain, whiplash-associated disorders and fibromyalgia took part in the studies. In three studies, the correlation between pain area and depression was weak (r = 0.15, p = N/A; r = 0.26, p < 0.05; r = 0.25, p = 0.01). Depression seemed to be a risk factor for pain in more body areas in one study (relative risk = 6.09, 95% CI = 1.1–33.5; p < 0.05). The relation between pain area and other psychological factors such as anxiety, kinesiophobia, catastrophizing, memory disturbances and concentration difficulties was also reported. Conclusions: A definitive answer on the relation of psychological factors and pain area is not available; the findings suggest that only depression might have a weak relation with pain area. Future studies that investigate sensory, psychological, emotional, cognitive and behavioral aspects, and also more accurate methods of PD assessment, are needed.

KEYWORDS:

• Pain
• chronic pain
• psychosocial
• psychology
• pain measurement

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.