Li YiJun, Coppieters Michel W, Setchell Jenny, Hodges Paul W, Scholten-Peeters Gwendolyne G M
Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 9, Amsterdam, 1081 BT, The Netherlands.
Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Brisbane and Gold Coast, Australia.
BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2020 Jul 21;21(1):476. doi: 10.1186/s12891-020-03500-1.
Low back pain (LBP) is the second highest cause of health burden in China. Delayed recovery, poor clinical outcomes and persistence of LBP are associated with negative pain beliefs about LBP. Chinese philosophies are nested into the daily life of people in China, which is likely to influence pain beliefs. However, there is lack of knowledge about people's discourses regarding their LBP in China. The primary aim of this study was to explore the discourses underlying the beliefs of people in China about what causes their persistent or recurrent LBP. The secondary aim was to investigate the sources of these pain beliefs.
People (n = 152) from South Central, East and North Mainland China with LBP completed an online survey about what they believed caused their persistent or recurrent LBP and where these understandings came from. Potential causes of persistent or recurrent LBP were explored qualitatively using discourse analysis. The sources of these discourses were assessed by descriptive statistics with conventional content analysis.
Five discourses were identified to underpin participants' beliefs about what caused their persistent or recurrent LBP, namely: (1) biomedical problems (66.4%), (2) unbalanced lifestyle (48.7%), (3) menstruation and 'kidney' status (9.2%), (4) the 'Five Elements' imbalance (7.9%), and (5) energy status (5.9%). Most participants responded that their pain beliefs were based on information derived from healthcare professionals (59.2%), followed by the internet (24.3%) and family (23.0%).
People from moderately and well-developed parts of Mainland China think predominantly in line with a Western biomedical viewpoint about their LBP. Traditional Chinese medicine related pain beliefs mainly to the concept of 'balance' were evident on contemporary Chinese society's understandings of LBP. These cultural beliefs could be relevant to consider in LBP management and involve healthcare professionals, family and patient in this process.
腰痛是中国健康负担的第二大原因。恢复延迟、临床效果不佳以及腰痛持续存在与对腰痛的负面疼痛信念有关。中国哲学融入了中国人的日常生活，这可能会影响疼痛信念。然而，在中国，人们对腰痛的论述缺乏了解。本研究的主要目的是探讨中国人群对导致其持续性或复发性腰痛原因的信念背后的论述。次要目的是调查这些疼痛信念的来源。
来自中国中南部、东部和北部大陆的152名腰痛患者完成了一项在线调查，内容涉及他们认为导致其持续性或复发性腰痛的原因以及这些认知的来源。使用话语分析对持续性或复发性腰痛的潜在原因进行定性探索。通过常规内容分析的描述性统计评估这些论述的来源。
确定了五种论述来支撑参与者对导致其持续性或复发性腰痛原因的信念，即：（1）生物医学问题（66.4%），（2）生活方式失衡（48.7%），（3）月经和“肾”的状况（9.2%），（4）“五行”失衡（7.9%），以及（5）能量状态（5.9%）。大多数参与者表示，他们的疼痛信念基于来自医疗保健专业人员的信息（59.2%），其次是互联网（24.3%）和家庭（23.0%）。
来自中国大陆中等发达和发达地区的人们在看待腰痛问题时，主要符合西方生物医学观点。与中医相关的、主要与“平衡”概念相关的疼痛信念在当代中国社会对腰痛的理解中很明显。这些文化信念在腰痛管理中可能值得考虑，并且在此过程中需要医疗保健专业人员、家庭和患者的参与。
