Maiers, Forte Publish New Research on the Role of Psychological Factors in Back Pain

New research from NWHSU faculty Michele Maiers, DC, MPH, PhD and Mary Forte, PhD, DC illustrates the importance of psychosocial factors when managing older adults with spinal complaints. The study was published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics.

Maiers and Forte found that, among older adults receiving chiropractic care and exercise instruction for back pain, improvement in self-efficacy (confidence managing one’s pain) and fear of movement (or kinesiophobia) was also associated with clinically important reduction in disability.

While they found that the odds of improvement decrease the longer the patient has suffered from spinal pain, these findings underscore that even small improvements in self-efficacy and kinesiophobia matter, and perhaps especially so for people over age 65.