Aspects of Impairments, Disabilities and Life Satisfaction in Patients with Chronic Whiplash Associated Disorders

Abstract

Introduction. The main aims of the present study were: (1) to compare aspects of disability (activity preferences and sick leave) and perceived global situation (life satisfaction) in a patient group with chronic whiplash associated disorders (WAD group; N = 32) with a healthy group of subjects (without neck or shoulder pain) randomly recruited from the official census lists (C group; N = 55), (2) to investigate whether the WAD group has a general hyper vigilance with respect to symptoms and (3) to analyse whether symptoms, signs or activity preferences influence aspects of life satisfaction in the WAD group.Methods. All subjects answered a questionnaire that asked them to disclose their symptoms, activity preferences, sick leave, and satisfaction with life. In addition, all subjects underwent a physical examination.Results. Significantly lower levels of activity preferences were noted Ylva Sterner, MD, PhD, Inga-Britt Bränholm, PhD, and Vanja Nyberg, RPT, are affiliated with the For personal use only. as a whole, physical and psychological health was significantly lower in the WAD group. The WAD group had significantly higher prevalence of several neuropsychological and emotional symptoms, but no general hyper vigilance with respect to all symptoms was noted. Both pain related symptoms and neuropsychological symptoms were of significant importance for aspects of disability and life satisfaction in the WAD group.Conclusions. The present study showed that chronic WAD was associated with marked negative consequences with respect to the activity preferences and the perceived global situation.

Generalized pain is associated with more negative consequences than local or regional pain: A study of chronic whiplash-associated disorders

“…Sterner et al (33) reported that patients with chronic WAD had a significantly higher prevalence of different symptoms than healthy controls, but they also noted that the chronic WAD group did not exhibit a homogenous increase in all types of symptoms. For individual not directly pain-related items (cf .…”

“…Patients with chronic WAD rate their satisfaction with life as a whole (physical and psychological health) lower than healthy controls (33). A prominent majority of the different items and scales concerning life satisfaction and health (i.e.…”

“…Sterner et al (33) suggested that cognitive/neuropsychological symptoms were consequences of high pain intensity rather than pain per se. We are unable to confirm such a direct relationship between pain intensity and cognitive/neuropsychological symptoms in the present within-group analysis of chronic WAD, since these 2 groups of symptoms loaded on different components in the PCA (Table II).…”

Catastrophizing, depression, and pain: Correlation with and influence on quality of life and health – A study of chronic whiplash-associated disorders

“…Chronic pain, including chronic whiplash-associated disorder (WAd), has a negative impact on quality of life (1,2) and negative consequences for perceived health (3)(4)(5). The bio-psychosocial framework of chronic pain (6) proposes an interaction between several factors that influence the development and maintenance of chronic pain and its consequences.…”