title: Psychological and psychosocial determinants of musculoskeletal pain and associated disability.
abstract: Although much attention has been given to the physical determinants of common musculoskeletal complaints such as back and arm pain, research points to a stronger influence of psychological factors. Multiple studies have implicated poor mental health and somatisation (a tendency to worry about the common somatic symptoms) in the incidence and chronicity of musculoskeletal pain and associated disability. Also important are adverse beliefs about the prognosis of such disorders, and about the role of physical activity in their development and persistence. Differences in societal beliefs may have contributed to major variation in the prevalence of disabling musculoskeletal pain that has been observed between countries and in the same countries over time. Psychosocial aspects of work have also been linked with musculoskeletal pain, although relative risks have generally been smaller. There is a need to take account of psychological factors in the clinical management of patients with back, neck and arm pain.
authors.affiliation: Center for Research in Occupational Health (CiSAL), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain; IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vargas-Prada
authors.affiliation: Arthritis Research UK/MRC Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK; MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. Electronic address: dnc@mrc.soton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Coggon
mesh_terms: D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D059352:Musculoskeletal Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D011584:Psychology; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Health beliefs; Mental health; Musculoskeletal pain; Psychosocial factors; Somatisation