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Anesth Analg 2004;99:477-481
© 2004 International Anesthesia Research Society
doi: 10.1213/01.ANE.0000132696.15310.DD

PAIN MEDICINE

An Analysis of the Relationship Between Activity and Pain in Chronic and Acute Low Back Pain

John J. Liszka-Hackzell, MD PhD*, and David P. Martin, MD PhD{dagger}

*Department of Anesthesiology, University of Arizona, Tucson; and {dagger}Department of Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota

Address correspondence and reprint requests to John J. Liszka-Hackzell, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Arizona, Department of Anesthesiology, 1501 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson, AZ 85724. Address e-mail to hackzell{at}u.arizona.edu

We studied the temporal relationship between pain and activity in patients with acute or chronic low back pain. We studied 15 patients with acute low back pain and 15 patients with chronic low back pain over 3 wk. The activity levels were collected automatically using a wrist accelerometer and were sampled every minute. The pain levels were recorded at least every 90 min using a pocket-sized electronic diary. The time series from each patient were then analyzed using the cross-correlation function at various time offsets. We found that during the first 7 days of acute low back pain, there was a significant (P < 0.01) degree of cross-correlation between activity and pain. On average, pain followed activity by approximately 30 min. As these patients improved and reported less pain, the relationship between activity and pain disappeared. There was no such relationship at any point among the patients with chronic low back pain.

IMPLICATIONS: We studied 15 patients with acute low back pain and 15 patients with chronic low back pain and found that there is a relationship between activity and pain in the patients with acute low back pain but not in the patients with chronic low back pain.






Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins Anesthesia & Analgesia® is published for the International Anesthesia Research Society® by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins with the assistance of Stanford University Libraries' HighWire Press®. Copyright 2006 by the International Anesthesia Research Society. Online ISSN: 1526-7598   Print ISSN: 0003-2999 HighWire Press
Copyright © 2004 by the International Anesthesia Research Society.