Are mindfulness skills associated with reducing kinesiophobia, pain severity, pain catastrophizing and physical disability? Results of Iranian patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough the results obtained for mindfulness-based treatments are promising, there is limited information concerning the role of different dimensions of mindfulness in the undesirable outcomes related to chronic pain such as physical pain and catastrophizing, pain severity, kinesiophobia and disability. Therefore, the objective of this present research was to examine the relationship between facets of mindfulness and the mentioned outcomes in individuals with musculoskeletal pain (MSP), including an extensive population of patients.Participants and procedureIn a cross-sectional research, 200 patients with chronic MSP were selected from northern Iran by the consecu-tive sampling method and were assessed through the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), 24-item Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ-24), 17-item Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-17), and the Coping Strategies Questionnaire – Catastrophizing subscale (CSQ-CAT).ResultsResults were obtained via multivariate hierarchical regression analyses after adjusting for the effects of demo-graphic variables, revealing that higher scores in the Observing subscale can predict lower scores in the VAS. Moreover, higher scores in the Describing subscale predict higher scores in VAS, CSQ-CAT and TSK-17; higher scores in Acting with Awareness predict lower scores in VAS and CSQ-CAT; higher scores in Non-judging pre-dict lower scores in VAS, RMDQ-24 and TSK-17; finally, higher scores in Non-reactivity predict higher scores in RMDQ-24 and TSK-17.ConclusionsAll factors existing in mindfulness are associated to MSP after controlling for certain undesirable outcomes. It seems that mindfulness interventions can potentially result in clinical improvement of patients suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain.