Kinematic characteristics of lumbar flexion and extension in lumbar spinal stenosis: the role of pain catastrophizing.

PURPOSE: To quantitatively evaluate lumbar spine motion in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) and investigate the relationship of LSS with pain-catastrophizing thoughts.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included participants diagnosed with LSS who were scheduled for surgery at a single facility. Pain catastrophizing was evaluated using the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS). The time series of lumbar motion was divided into the following three phases based on lumbar motion velocity, and the duration (in seconds) of each phase was calculated: Phase 1 (lumbar flexion phase), Phase 2 (transition phase from lumbar flexion to extension), and Phase 3 (lumbar extension phase); the total motion duration was defined as the sum of phases 1, 2, and 3. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the association between total lumbar motion duration and PCS.

RESULTS

A total of 123 participants were analyzed. Multivariate analysis revealed that a delay in lumbar motion in patients with LSS was significantly associated with pain catastrophizing.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicated that higher pain catastrophizing scores were associated with longer total lumbar spine movement duration during forward bending in patients with LSS. This association suggests that cognitive factors may be relevant to movement characteristics and should be considered in pain management strategies for this population.