A prospective study of factors affecting recovery from musculoskeletal injuries.

PURPOSE

Research suggests the importance of psychosocial factors in recovery from musculoskeletal injuries. The objective of this study was to identify predictors of recovery among U.S. Marines who had musculoskeletal injuries of the back, knee, or shoulder.

METHODS

A sample of 134 participants was assessed at baseline and followed for 1 year to determine outcome information.

RESULTS

The strongest predictor of injury recovery at the 1-year follow-up was recovery expectations. In a multivariate logistic model with key demographic and psychosocial factors controlled, individuals who had high recovery expectations at baseline were over five times as likely to be recovered at follow-up as individuals who had low expectations (OR = 5.18, p.01).

CONCLUSIONS

This finding is consistent with a large body of research that has linked recovery expectations with better recovery outcomes in patients with musculoskeletal injuries as well as with research linking recovery expectations with better outcomes across a wide range of medical conditions.Applied to military populations, interventions designed to modify recovery expectations may have the potential to improve rates of return to duty and to reduce rates of disability discharge.