title: The emotive impact of medical language.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Words can shape or reinforce a patient's coping strategies. We measured the emotional content of hand surgery words and some synonyms or alternatives in five categories (19 words total).
  
  
  METHODS
  Healthy adult companions of 100 patients presenting to an orthopedic hand surgical practice were asked to score five hand surgery words and some synonyms and alternatives (19 total words) on three dimensions: affective/emotional (ranging from pleasant to unpleasant), arousal (ranging from calm to aroused), and dominance/control (ranging from dominated to feeling in control) using a validated methodology. Ratings were done using the self-assessment manikin-a validated graphic affective rating system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The emotional reaction to "discomfort" and "ache" was more positive than "pain." The words "tear" and "defect" were more positive than "rupture." The words "tight" and "stiff" were more positive than "locked" and "frozen." The word "faded" was more positive than "degenerated," "diminished," and "wasted". The words "overused" and "worn" were more positive than "cracked," "inflamed," and "broken."
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Some common hand surgery words have a relatively negative emotional content. Given that psychological distress is an important predictor of pain intensity and disability, additional research is merited to develop optimally positive language for describing musculoskeletal pathology.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Medicine Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114 USA.
authors.forename: Ana-Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Vranceanu
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elbon
authors.forename: Margaritha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ring
keywords: Coping strategies; Emotional content of words; Hand illness