Fig 1.
The fear-avoidance model, showing the targets of Pain Exposure Physical Therapy and graded exposure treatment.
In this model, pain catastrophizing, pain-related fear and avoidance are thought to be mediators for the treatment of disability and consequently pain. Reproduced from Vlaeyen and Linton [7]. PEPT = Pain Exposure Physical Therapy. GEXP = Graded Exposure treatment.
Fig 2.
Model for the mediation analysis.
This model was used to analyse potential mediation between the independent variable (Pain Exposure Physical Therapy versus conventional treatment), the mediator variable (fear-avoidance beliefs or pain catastrophizing or kinesiophobia), and the dependent variable (pain-related disability or pain) [30]. PEPT = Pain Exposure Physical Therapy. CONV = conventional treatment.
Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the participants.
Fig 3.
Outcomes for both treatment groups at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 months follow-up.
Panel A: dependent variables pain-related disability and pain. Panel B: potential mediators fear-avoidance beliefs, pain catastrophizing, and kinesiophobia. PDI = Pain Disability Index. VAS = Visual Analogue Scale. FABQ = Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire. PCS = Pain Catastrophizing Scale. TSK = Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia. CONV = conventional treatment. PEPT = Pain Exposure Physical Therapy.
Table 2.
Descriptives of the dependent variables and the mediator variables.
Table 3.
Mediation analysis with estimated group differences based on linear mixed models*.