Prevalence of kinesiophobia and catastrophizing in patients with temporomandibular disorders

Abstract

Purpose: to identify the frequency and levels of kinesiophobia and catastrophizing in patients with temporomandibular disorders who had been submitted to speech-language-hearing therapy. Methods: the sample comprised patients with myogenous (predominantly) and mixed temporomandibular disorders in the study group and healthy individuals in the control group. The instruments used were the Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders, Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia, and Pain Catastrophizing Scale. Statistical analyses were performed with the Mann-Whitney test (to compare the means on each scale between the groups) and the Spearman’s correlation coefficient test (to analyze the correlation between the scales in each group and its significance). Results: the study group had a higher pain catastrophizing index than the control group. Likewise, the study group had greater kinesiophobia positive indices, whereas the control group had lower ones. A moderate positive correlation was also identified between kinesiophobia and catastrophizing in the study group. Conclusion: patients presented with temporomandibular disorders have higher levels of kinesiophobia and catastrophizing than subjects not diagnosed with the disorder.

The Relationship between Kinesiophobia, Emotional State, Functional State and Chronic Pain in Subjects with/without Temporomandibular Disorders

“…To the best of our knowledge, only one paper has, to date, showed prevalence of kinesiophobia in the TMD population [11], in contrast to all the other studies cited in this paper, which merely compare study and control groups. The study group of this one paper only contained 28 subjects, whereas this study had 94, a figure that, while higher, still seems low when generalization of the results to the entire population is considered.…”

“…On the other hand, other researchers found this relationship existed, regardless of the existence of pain [10]. It is worth mentioning that the prevalence of kinesiophobia in TMD has only been estimated in one previous study [11]; all other papers investigated the differences between study and control groups, but without showing actual prevalence.…”

“…In TMD subjects the fear of movement of the jaw may affect some essential primary activities, such as eating, chewing, emotional expression, or communication [10]. Several studies assessed kinesiophobia and catastrophizing levels in TMD subjects by using standardized tools such as Tampa scale for kinesiophobia for temporomandibular disorders (TSK-TMD) [10][11][12], with some showing a stronger correlation with painful TMD, compared to nonpainful and control groups. On the other hand, other researchers found this relationship existed, regardless of the existence of pain [10].…”