The relationship of fear of movement with pain, range of motion and function in patients with shoulder pathologies

The pain, fear of movement, and disability are interrelated parameters that may adversely affect the individual in terms of medical and social aspects. This relationship has not been well studied in shoulder pathologies. We carried out a single-center cross-sectional study in the Orthopaedics and Traumatology Clinic. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between pain, function range of motion (ROM), and fear of movement in patients with shoulder pain. The mean age of the participants was 53.7 ± 11.2 years. Symptom duration was 11.65 ± 23.39 months. Most of the subjects (66.7%) had impingement syndrome. There was a weak to moderate negative correlation between both visual analog scale (VAS) and Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS) with flexion, abduction, external rotation ROM values (r1 = − 0.293, r2 = − 0.348, r3 = − 0.330, p < 0.001). In addition, there was a weak negative correlation between Tampa Kinesiophobia Score (TKS) and ROM values of abduction, internal rotation, and external rotation (r1 = − 0.273, r2 = − 0.207, r3 = − 0.250, p < 0.05). Pain was weakly and positively correlated with OSS (r = 0.209, p < 0.05). According to our results, shoulder pain was associated with functionality, but fear of movement was not associated with shoulder pain or functionality. ROM was associated with both pain, functionality, and fear of movement.