Abstract

The Fear-Avoidance Model (FAM) is a psychological theory that was created to explain why some patients develop chronic back pain while others do not. However, there is little research on the influence of the FAM and acute extremity injuries. Therefore, the aim of our study was to determine if the FAM is correlated to time to return to play from an acute injury. Twenty six student athletes who had suffered an acute injury that required up to six weeks of rehabilitation volunteered for this study. The FAM, including fear of pain (FPQ-III), kinesiphobia (TSK), fear avoidance (FABQ), and catastrophizing (PCS) was assessed using self-report questionnaires. Physical measures recorded included range of motion (ROM), strength, pain, disability, and evoked tenderness. All measurements were taken within 24 hours of an athlete being injured and every two weeks until the athlete returned to play. Return to play (RTP) was defined as returning to competition or practice in days. No significant correlations were discovered between RTP and the FABQ and the TSK. Moderate correlations were found between the medical pain subscale of the FPQ-III and the magnification subscale of the PCS and RTP -0.372 ( p = 0.061) and 0.370 (p = 0.063) respectively. The FABQ was significantly correlated with many of the physical measures, including disability, pain, and ROM. Although we could not confirm the ability of the FAM to predict the length of rehabilitation following an acute injury, moderate trends were found signifying that the FAM provides an important indicator of physical signs.