Such interventions would have the potential to reduce the prevalence of chronic pain in the population .
Although certain risk factors can identify individuals who are most likely to develop chronic pain , few interventions to prevent chronic pain have been identified .
To facilitate the identification of preventive interventions , an IMMPACT meeting was convened to discuss research design considerations for clinical trials investigating the prevention of chronic pain .
We present general design considerations for prevention trials in population s that are at relatively high risk for developing chronic pain .
A longitudinal study on the predictive validity of the fear–avoidance model in low back pain
& NA ; Recently , fear – avoidance models have been quite influential in underst and ing the transition from acute to chronic low back pain ( LBP ) . Not only has pain‐related fear been found to be associated with disability and increased pain severity , but also treatment focused at reducing pain‐related fear has shown to successfully reduce disability levels . In spite of these developments , there is still a lack in well‐ design ed prospect i ve studies examining the role of pain‐related fear in acute back pain . The aim of the current study was to prospect ively test the assumption that pain‐related fear in acute stages successfully predicts future disability .  Subjects were primary care acute LBP patients consulting because of a new episode of LBP ( ≤3 weeks ) . They completed question naires on background variables , fear – avoidance model variables and LBP outcome ( Grade d Chronic Pain Scale , GCPS ) at baseline , 3 , 6 , and 12 months follow‐up and at the end of the study . Two‐hundred and twenty‐two acute LBP patients were included , of whom 174 provided full follow‐up information ( 78.4 % ) . A backward ordinal regression analysis showed previous LBP history and pain intensity to be the most important predictors of end of study GCPS . Of the  fear – avoidance model  variables , only negative affect added to this model . Our results do not really support the longitudinal validity of the fear – avoidance model , but they do feed the discussion on the role of pain‐related fear in early stages of LBP
Such interventions would have the potential to reduce the prevalence of chronic pain in the population .
Although certain risk factors can identify individuals who are most likely to develop chronic pain , few interventions to prevent chronic pain have been identified .
To facilitate the identification of preventive interventions , an IMMPACT meeting was convened to discuss research design considerations for clinical trials investigating the prevention of chronic pain .
We present general design considerations for prevention trials in population s that are at relatively high risk for developing chronic pain .