Patients with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain of 3-6-Month Duration Already Have Low Levels of Health-Related Quality of Life and Physical Activity.

Abstract

To determine the level of physical activity and health-related quality of life in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain of 3-6-month duration who have not been diagnosed or treated before. Low levels of quality of life and physical activity have been reported for patients with musculoskeletal pain with a duration of longer than 6months. This study assessed the levels of quality of life and physical activity at the beginning stage of chronic musculuskeletal pain. Prospective cross-sectional study carried out at a musculoskeletal and sports medicine clinic. Eighty-five consecutive patients with muskuloskeletal (i.e., spine, peripheral joint, muscle, tendon) pain of 3-6-month duration, not diagnosed before, age 14 and older, and from either gender were recruited. Short Form-36 Health Survey and International Physical Activity Questionnaire long were administered during assessments. Scores on subscales of Short Form-36 Health Survey and total scores of International Physical Activity Questionnaire were used as outcome measures. A total of 85 patients with an age range of 15-86 (51.22 ± 15.99) were enrolled. There were 23 male (27.06%) and 62 (72.94%) female subjects. Forty-six (54.11%) patients had three or less painful regions; 39 (45.88%) had more than three painful regions. Majority of the patients had low scores on both Short Form-36 Health Survey subscales and International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Forty-nine patients had low, 32 patients had moderate, and 4 patients had high level of physical activity. Overall, females had lower level of physical activity in all age groups. All patients had less than optimal scores on all subscales of Physical Health and Mental Health scales of the Short Form-36. The female patients had lower scores in role physical and bodily pain subscales of physical health. Patients with musculoskeletal pain duration of 3-6months have low levels of physical activity and health-related quality of life at the time of their first evaluation.