Patient Perceived Disability after an Interdisciplinary Treatment Approach for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Syndromes

Abstract

<h3>Research Objectives</h3> To investigate the perceived disability of child and the family impact with chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome before and after receiving an intense, interdisciplinary treatment approach. <h3>Design</h3> The design is a retrospective look at the pre and post assessment measures in a cohort of 119. <h3>Setting</h3> The study setting is full day pain program within a private institution for children and adolescents. <h3>Participants</h3> Patients who participated in the program between 2015 and 2019, retrospective chart review was performed to abstract data on patients' Functional Disability Index (FDI) and PedsQL. <h3>Interventions</h3> Daily occupational and physical therapy, weekly psychology (CBT-model), social work services, school re-integration planning, and art and music therapies. OT included strengthening, functional activities and desensitization for 3 hours a day and PT included strength and endurance training 2 hours a day. <h3>Main Outcome Measures</h3> The outcome measures were the PedsQL and FDI. The PedsQL is a brief health-related quality of life measure looking at physical, emotional, social, and school functioning in children (Varni, J.W., Seid, M. & Kurtin, P.S. 2001). The FDI is a well-established and frequently used measure of physical functioning and disability in adolescents with chronic pain (Kashikar-Zuck, et al 2011). <h3>Results</h3> Patients were given the PedsQL on their first and last day and the FDI during their OT initial and discharge evaluations. <h3>Conclusions</h3> An intense, Interdisciplinary treatment approach for chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes can reduce a patients perceived level of physical disability and measure their quality of life in the four domains mentioned. In the cohort of 119, the difference between FDI scores at admission vs FDI scores at discharge was assessed using Wilcoxon Signed Rank test, which found to be statistically significant with the p-value < 0.0001. In the cohort of 119, we observed that PedsQL inventory total scores as well as individual domains' scores were improved (higher scores) at discharge vs admission. These changes were statistically significant (all p-values < 0.05), indicating improvement in HRQoL (overall and at individual domain level) at discharge in comparison to admission. <h3>Author(s) Disclosures</h3> None.