Relationships Between Function, Pain Severity and Psychological and Cognitive Levels in People With Chronic Neck Pain: Cross-Sectional Study.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between pain and functional levels with pain catastrophizing, rumination, decision-making, and critical thinking in people with chronic neck pain.

Methods: The study included 62 patients with chronic neck pain who had presented to a physiotherapy center with pain complaints for at least 3 months. The visual analog scale for pain severity, the Neck Disability Index for functional level, the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, the Ruminative Thinking Scale, the Melbourne Decision-Making Scale I-II, and the Marmara Critical Thinking Inventory were used for assessments.

Results: Activity pain, night pain, and disability were positively correlated with rumination (rho: 0.368, p = .003; rho: 0.423, p = <.001; rho = 0.334, p = .008). There was a positive correlation between night pain, disability, and pain catastrophizing (rho = 0.298, p = .019; rho = .434 p < .001). A negative correlation was observed between patients' pain severity and disability with critical thinking scores (rho = -0.393, p = .002; rho = -0.377 p = .003, rho = -0.428 p < .001, rho = -0.441 p < .001).

Conclusions: The study suggested that there were positive correlations between pain severity and disability with rumination and pain catastrophizing. Additionally, chronic neck pain was found to have negative correlations with critical thinking scores, indicating potential impacts on cognitive processes. These findings may provide insights into the complex interplay between chronic pain and psychological factors, which can inform the development of interventions to enhance chronic pain management.