Kinesiophobia is when someone is really scared of moving their body and doing physical activities (Kori et al., 1990). This fear is often because an athlete fears that they may get hurt or, if they have experienced an injury in the past, hurt themselves again.
When someone has kinesiophobia, they might start avoiding doing physical things because they’re afraid (Feleus et al., 2017). This can make them very sensitive to any feelings or sensations in their body resulting in them being less active and have a lower quality of life (Goldberg et al., in press). Researchers created the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia to measure how scared someone is of moving and getting injured (Miller et al., 1991).
Miller, R. P., Kori, S. H., & Todd, D. D. (1991). The tampa scale: A measure of kinesiophobia. Clinical Journal of Pain, 7(1), 51 52.
Kori, S. H., Miller, R. P., & Todd, D. D. (1990). Kinesiophobia: A new view of chronic pain behavior. Pain Management, 3, 35 43.
Feleus, A., van Dalen, T., Bierma-Zeinstra, S., Bernsen, R., Verhaar, J., et al. (2017). Kinesiophobia in patients with non-traumatic arm, neck and shoulder complaints: A prospective cohort study in general practice. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 8, 117.
Goldberg, P., Zeppieri, G., Bialosky, J., Bocchino, C., van den Boogaard, J. et al. (in press). Kinesiophobia and its association with health-related quality of life across injury locations. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
