Fear-Avoidance Models of Chronic Pain: An Overview

Abstract

Abstract Over the past decade there has been a burgeoning of research aimed specifically at better understanding the role that fear, anxiety, and avoidance behavior play in the development and exacerbation of chronic pain following apparently healed acute musculoskeletal injury or benign (harmless) somatic conditions. Although reviewed in recent years (Asmundson et al. 1999; Vlaeyen and Linton 2000), this literature has continued to grow, has clarified associations with parallel lines of investigation (e.g. the anxiety disorders), and is now stimulating new and exciting practical applications designed to reduce pain chronicity and associated disability.