Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Spine J. 2015 Mar 13;15(7):1577–1586. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2015.03.003

Table 2.

Items used in the 6 month and 2 year risk scores

Item Response 6-month model 2-year model
Did your pain ever go below the knee during this episode of back pain? Y/N X
Do you have additional pain in the upper back? Y/N X X
How would you rate the pain you have had during the past week when it was most tolerable? 1 0–10 X
Can you sleep at night?*2 0–10 X
Can you walk for an hour*2 0–10 X
In your view, how large is the risk that your current pain may become persistent (may not go away)?2 0–10 X
You think it is terrible and you feel it is never going to get any better**3 0–10 X X
When you feel pain you ignore it**3 0–10 X X
You do something you enjoy, such as watching TV or listening to music**3 0–10 X X
In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems?***4 0–10 X
Did you complete college education (BS, BA)? Y/N X X

Item Stems:

*

“Could you please answer with a number on a scale from 0 - 10? The 0 means “I can NEVER do this because of pain” and the 10 means “I can ALWAYS do this without pain being a problem.”

**

“When you feel back pain, how much do you do the following, where a 0 indicates you never do that and a 10 indicates you always do it when you feel back pain:”

***

“The next question asks about your life in general, and about stress you have, not only from your back pain, but also stress from other aspects of your life including family, relationships, work, health etc. We would like for you to tell us about your feelings and thoughts during the last month. Again, use the scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is never, and 10 is always, and tell us how often you felt or thought a certain way.”

Sources:

1

Neubauer, E., et al., HKF-R 10 - Screening for predicting chronicity in acute low back pain (LBP): A prospective clinical trial. Eur J Pain, 2005.

2

Linton, S.J. and K. Hallden, Can we screen for problematic back pain? A screening questionnaire for predicting outcome in acute and subacute back pain. Clin J Pain, 1998. 14(3): p. 209–15.

3

Jensen, M.P., et al., One- and two-item measures of pain beliefs and coping strategies. Pain, 2003. 104(3): p. 453–69.

4

Cohen, S., Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~scohen/.