Guarding and flow in the movements of people with chronic pain: A qualitative study of physiotherapists' observations.

BACKGROUND

Among the adaptations of movement consistently associated with disability in chronic pain, guarding is common. Based on previous work, we sought to understand better the constituents of guarding; we also used the concept of flow to explore the description of un/naturalness that emerged from physiotherapists' descriptions of movement in chronic pain. The aim was to inform the design of technical systems to support people with chronic pain in everyday activities.

METHODS

Sixteen physiotherapists, experts in chronic pain, were interviewed while repeatedly watching short video clips of people with chronic low back pain doing simple movements; physiotherapists described the movements, particularly in relation to guarding and flow. The transcribed interviews were analysed thematically to elaborate these constructs.

RESULTS

Moderate agreement emerged on the extent of guarding in the videos, with good agreement that guarding conveyed caution about movement, distinct from biomechanical variables of stiffness or slow speed. Physiotherapists' comments on flow showed slightly better agreement, and described the overall movement in terms of restriction (where there was no flow or only some flow), of tempo of the entire movement, and as naturalness (distinguished from normality of movement).

CONCLUSIONS

These qualities of movement may be useful in designing technical systems to support self-management of chronic pain.

SIGNIFICANCE: Drawing on the descriptions of movements of people with chronic low back pain provided by expert physiotherapists to standard stimuli, two key concepts were elaborated. Guarding was distinguished from stiffness (a physical limitation) or slowness as motivated by fear or worry about movement. Flow served to describe harmonious and continuous movement, even when adapted around restrictions of pain. Movement behaviours associated with pain are better understood in terms of their particular function than aggregated without reference to function.