Psychological aspects of low back pain.

Background – Chronic low back pain is a complex condition produced by multiple factors. This study investigated the psychological aspects of low back pain in a group of patients. Methods – A total of 112 subjects participated in the study. Fifty-six patients (21 females and 35 males) had low back pain and were seeking treatment in two clinics. A control group of 56 subjects (20 females and 36 males) without low back pain agreed to participate in the study as a control group. Psychological aspects were evaluated by the Persian version of Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). Information on relevant demographics and pain was collected by one of the investigators who created the questionnaire. Results – The patients had higher scores in all scales of the SCL-90-R. A t-test which was used to investigate a possible significant difference in SCL-90-R scale between the groups indicated significant difference in all scales but the interpersonal sensitive scale. Conclusion – These findings indicate that chronic low back pain patients have an increased occurrence of coexistent psychological distress.