DISABILITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG PATIENTS

Background: Chronic low back pain is typically characterized by persistent low back pain exceeding 12 weeks, it places a substantial burden on individuals, society, and the economy, affecting daily life, productivity, and overall well-being. Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is influenced by physical, psychological, and social factors. A major psychological factor is kinesiophobia an excessive fear of movement due to the belief that activity may worsen symptoms, which contributes to disability, and a decline in overall quality of life. However there is little studies on the relationship between kinesiophobia, pain, disability and quality of life among patients with chronic low back pain. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between kinesiophobia, pain, disability and quality of life among patients with chronic low back pain in UBTH. Methods: This was a cross sectional design study where 57 participants were recruited via purposive sampling technique from patients with chronic low back pain in university of Benin teaching hospital. Questionnaires used in this study included Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK),Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization Quality of Life - BREF), Data was summarized using interferential statistics such as Spearman’s rank correlation test to check for the association between the variables. The level of significance was set at p=0.05 Results: Majority of the participants 29 (51.0%) had moderate pain intensity, 48(84%) of participants had a greater level of fear of movement, the greater degree of functional disability waoderate accounting for 37 (65%) and majority of the participants overall quality of life was moderate of 31 (57.4%), 31 (57.4%) reported a moderate overall quality of life. Furthermore, the result shows there is a significant relationship between kinesiophobia, pain intensity, disability and quality of life.( p=0.05) Conclusion: This study shows that there are significant interrelationships among pain, kinesiophobia, and disability among patients with chronic low back pain at UBTH. Key words: Chronic low back pain, kinesiophobia, disability, quality of life.