Relationships Between Coping Strategies, Disability and Pain Levels in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain

Abstract

Differences in the reported use of pain coping strategies were studied in 104 chronic low back pain patients. They were assigned to four groups according to their ratings of pain and disability. The assumption was that the groups would report different pain coping strategies. Background data were collected by a separate questionnaire. Behavioral and cognitive pain coping strategies used in mild and severe pain were assessed by a modified version of the Coping Strategy Questionnaire (Rosenstiel & Keefe, 1983). The results indicated that the “preference order” for coping strategies is different in mild and in severe pain regardless of the subject's average level of pain and disability. Certain coping strategies are preferred in mild pain, others in bouts of severe pain. The results also showed that patients with better average functioning tend to ignore pain sensations in bouts of severe pain. A tendency to catastrophize easily was related to much disability in subjects with not very severe pain.