Physiotherapist Caitlyn summaries the article ‘Adverse Effects of COIVD-19 Related Lockdown on Pain, Physical Activity and Psychological Wellbeing in People with Chronic Pain’.
3.37 million Australians are living with persistent pain in 2020. Previous research indicates a likelihood that people with persistent pain suffer increased severity of symptoms in high-stress situations.
With this in mind, ‘The Walton Centre’ conducted research into the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK on people who have persistent pain.
Lockdown of economic and social activities creates a situation of threat in vulnerable populations due to health anxiety, physical inactivity, reduced accessibility to usual care, social isolation, and financial/economic uncertainty.
People with persistent pain scored higher on loneliness and tiredness ratings for the past 7 days than the non-pain group. Unsurprisingly, increased HADS depression and anxiety scores and increased PCS scores were evident in the group who had pain.
People with persistent pain self-reported greater lockdown-related increases in anxiety and depressed mood compared to the non-pain group. They also reported significant reductions in the amount of exercise they participated in compared to the pre-COVID period whereas negligible reduction was evident in the non-pain group.
Importantly, we know that exercise is a protective factor in mental health, but also cardiovascular, metabolic and musculoskeletal health.
Perceived decreases in levels of physical exercise also independently predicted perceptions of increased pain. Interestingly, actual changes in pain symptoms did not change significantly on average, but those reporting increases also demonstrated greater baseline levels of pain catastrophizing.
Overall, the findings suggest that remote pain management provision to target reduction of catastrophizing and increases to physical activity could be beneficial for people with persistent pain in overcoming the adverse effects of lockdown.
Fallon, N., Brown, C., Twiddy, H., Brian, E., Frank, B., Nurmikko, T., and Stancak, A., (2020). Adverse Effects of COIVD-19 Related Lockdown on Pain, Physical Activity and Psychological Wellbeing in People with Chronic Pain. medRxiv 2020.06.04.20122564
