Objectives Previous research has shown that sensitivity to movement-evoked pain is associated with higher scores on self-report measures of disability in individuals who have sustained whiplash injuries. However, it remains unclear whether sensitivity to movement-evoked pain is associated with work-disability. The aim of the present study was to examine the relation between sensitivity to movement-evoked pain and occupational status in individuals receiving treatment for whiplash injury. Methods A sample of 105 individuals with whiplash injuries participated in a testing session where different measures of pain (i.e. spontaneous pain, multi-site pain, sensitivity to movement-evoked pain) were collected during the performance of a simulated occupational lifting task. Results Hierarchical logistic regression analysis revealed that the measures of multisite pain and sensitivity to movement-evoked pain made significant independent contributions to the prediction of work-disability. Discussion The findings suggest that including measures of multisite pain and sensitivity to movement evoked pain in assessment protocols has the potential to increase the value of pain assessments for the prediction of occupational disability associated with whiplash injury. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are addressed.
Keywords: Disability; Movement-evoked pain; Multi-site pain; Whiplash.