Abstract:
Abstract
Background: There is growing evidence that fear and other psychological factors of pain may
be more disabling factors than low back pain. However, the prevalence of fear-avoidance beliefs
about physical activity and associated factors in individuals suffering from low back pain has not
been well investigated in Ethiopia.
Objective: To assess fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity and associated factors among
low back pain patients attending physiotherapy treatment in Gondar and Bahir Dar specialized
hospitals.
Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from March to June 2021 with
a total of 263 low back pain patients. Data was collected by face to face interview by fear
avoidance belief questionnaire about physical activity (FABQ-PA) tool, socio-demographic
variables, and clinical characterstics of participants. Data were entered and cleaned by using Epi
Info version 7 and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Data were statistically analyzed and
presented using descriptive statistics, bivariate and multivariable logistic regression, and P
value<0.05 with 95% CI was considered statistically significant.
Result: A total of 263 participants with low back pain were involved in this study. The overall
prevalence of fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity among low back pain patients was
113(43.0 %) with 95% CI (36.9-49.0). Factors such as residence 0.363(0.173-0.76), Analgics
2.00(1.19-3.37), and work-related LBP 1.97(1.18-3.296) were significantly associated with high
fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity among low back pain patients.
Conclusion and recomendation: This study reveals that patient’s fear-avoidance beliefs about
physical activities among LBPs patients are less than a half. Regarding factors, such as
residence, use of analgesics, and work-related LBP were associated with high fear-avoidance
beliefs about physical activity among LBP patients. Psychological behaviour among patients
should be considered while planning to manage and treat low back pain.
Keywords: Avoidance behaviour, fear-avoidance beliefs, low back pain, Northwest Ethiopia.
