Low back pain is one of the major and common musculoskeletal problems effecting a large population throughout the world and its transition from acute to chronic phase is associated with various psychological factors. Low Back Pain is pain, muscle tension or stiffness localized below costal margins and above the inferior gluteal folds with or without sciatica and is defined as chronic when it persists for 12 weeks or more .Psychological factors play an important role in people with chronic low back pain as experience of pain is shaped by host of psychological factors. Experimental studies have proposed that psychological and social factors can influence biological factors, such as hormone production activity in autonomic nervous system and physical deconditioning .Psychological basis of low back pain can be explained on the basis of factors such as Attention, Expectation, Beliefs, Emotion and Anxiety, pain behavior and Learning and memory. Chronic Low back pain is a physical and emotional suffering, but is poorly understood and addressed from the psychological standpoint. Chronic low back pain results in decreased psychological health of the individual leading to depression, anxiety, stress etc which in deed further worsen the pain and deteriorate the psychological well being.
Keywords: Low back pain, Psychological Factors, Attention, Expectation, Beliefs, Emotion and Anxiety, Pain Behavior and Learning and Memory.
Authors: N P Singh & Maman Paul
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