[Pain staging, gender, and rehabilitation outcome in chronic low back pain. A pilot study].
BACKGROUND
Current biopsychosocial models of the etiology and chronicity of back pain postulate a major impact of psychological factors in the process of back pain chronicity.


METHODS
Effects of gender and pain staging on rehabilitation outcome were examined immediately after and 3 and 6 months after rehabilitation in 121 patients with chronic low back pain (43 women, 78 men; M=48 years; ICD-10 diagnoses M54.4/M54.5). Pain was staged using the Mainz Pain Staging System.


RESULTS
In the short and mid term, patients in stage I and women benefited from rehabilitation. Rehabilitation outcomes tended not to be improved for men in stage III.


CONCLUSIONS
Results support the notion that rehabilitation outcome is significantly influenced by pain staging and gender. Thus, clinical-psychological and gender-specific interventions should be incorporated in future therapeutic regimens to increase the rehabilitation outcomes in patients with higher chronicity of back pain.
Hampel
P
P
Faculty of Social Work and Health, University of Applied Sciences of Kiel, Sokratesplatz 2, 24149 Kiel, Deutschland. petra.hampel@fh-kiel.de
Brunnberg
A
A
Krohn-Grimberghe
B
B
Mantel
F
F
Thomsen
M
M
Hoischen
A
A
Hrkac
M
M
Tlach
L
L
Morfeld
M
M
Mohr
B
B
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome