Unhelpful thoughts and distress regarding symptoms are associated with recovery from upper extremity fracture

Background: There is evidence that thoughts and emotions regarding symptoms are strongly associated with levels of comfort and capability for a given injury or disease. Longitudinal data from a large cohort of people recovering from an upper extremity fracture provided an opportunity to study how these mindset factors evolve during recovery. Methods: Seven hundred and four adults (66% women, mean age 59 ± 21 years) recovering from upper extremity fracture completed two measures of reaction to symptoms (the Pain Catastrophizing Scale and the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia), a visual analog scale of pain intensity, and two measures of magnitude of incapability 1 week, 3 to 4 weeks, and 6 to 9 months after fracture. Results: Exploratory factor analysis identified distinct groupings of questions addressing unhelpful thoughts and feelings of distress regarding symptoms. The number of distinct question groupings of mindset factors diminished over time. Variations in those groupings of mindset factors were associated with a notable amount of the variation in comfort and capability at all time points. Questions pertaining to unhelpful thoughts about symptoms had stronger associations with comfort and capability than questions measuring distress about symptoms, more so as recovery progressed. Conclusions: The need to integrate mental health into musculoskeletal is bolstered by the observation that mindsets—interpretation of symptoms in particular–are key contributors to comfort and capability.