Level of pain self-efficacy in people with and without patellofemoral pain: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is a chronic musculoskeletal condition. Which has an average prevalence of 25% in the global population. It mainly affects young people between 12 and 19 years old depending on the level of physical activity gender and environmental context. Its etiology is poorly understood however it is known that this condition is characterized by the coexistence of changes in physical and non-physical characteristics. Regarding physical characteristics biomechanical changes are commonly observed in people with PFP.Regarding non-physical characteristics, emerging evidence points out that psychological factors such as kinesiophobia, pain catastrophizing, anxiety and depression can influence the prognosis of PFP since they are associated with a higher level of pain and lower function in this population. Among them self-efficacy is currently considered a research priority in the study of PPD.Objective: The present study aims to compare the levels of pain self-efficacy of people with and without PFP, and to verify if there is a correlation between alterations found in the levels of this outcome and the levels of self-reported function, kinesiophobia, symptoms of anxiety and depression, self-reported pain and catastrophism in people with PFP.Methods: A cross-sectional study will be carried out in an online format. Participants will be assessed using the following tools: Chronic Pain Self-Efficacy Scale, Anterior Knee Pain Scale - AKPS, Tampa Kinesiophobia Scale - TAMPA, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - HADS, Pain Catastrophizing Scale - PCS and Visual Analog Scale - VAS. The data will be tested for normal distribution by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test.In order to compare demographic, psychological and clinical data between groups, independent t tests or the Mann-Whitney U test will be performed, depending on the characteristic of data distribution. Pearson (r) or Spearman (p) correlation coefficients will be calculated to assess the correlation between self-efficacy and psychological and clinical variables of people with PFP.