Influence of kinesiophobia on pain intensity, disability, muscle endurance, and position sense in patients with chronic low back pain—a case-control study

BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) frequently present with kinesiophobia. Though large body of evidence reported the impact of kinesiophobia in patients with CLBP, there are paucity of studies in associating kinesiophobia to muscle endurance and position sense in patients with CLBP. The primary aim of the study is to compare the impact of kinesiophobia on lumbar extensor endurance, position sense in patient with CLBP, and asymptomatic individuals. Secondarily, we aim to examine the association between kinesiophobia and lumbar extensor endurance, position sense, pain intensity, and functional ability in patients with CLBP. Thirdly, we aim to assess the degree of association of various factors on CLBP, lumbar endurance, and position sense. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This case-control study will have 200 patients with CLBP and 400 controls. Kinesiophobia, lumbar endurance, and lumbar position sense will be assessed with Tampa Scale, Soren’s lumbar extensor test, and lumbar repositioning test respectively. Secondarily, the pain intensity will be assessed with visual analog scale and functional ability with Patient-specific Functional Scale in patients with CLBP. Lumbar endurance and joint position sense will be compared between subjects with and without kinesiophobia. Kinesiophobia scores will be compared with lumbar extensor endurance and proprioception joint position errors, pain intensity, and functional ability. Simple and multiple binary logistic regression will be used to determine crude and adjusted odd’s ratio for kinesiophobia, lumbar position sense and kinesiophobia, and lumbar endurance. DISCUSSION: The finding from this study can be generalized as this study has adequate sample size and subgroup analysis by adjusting the variables to draw a valid conclusion. The finding of this study will help the working physician to include assessment of kinesiophobia as part of musculoskeletal evaluation for patient with CLBP in a prospective diagnostic intervention. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05079893. Registered on 14 October 2021. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13063-022-06406-6.