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. 2015 Sep 1;4(5):23–32. doi: 10.7453/gahmj.2015.048

Table 4.

Personal Assessment of Participants in the Massive Open Online Course (N=2435)

Gender Female (57%), male (43%)
Pain areas (in order of frequency) Neck and back (26.3%)
Head, jaw, ear, and face (21.5%)
Leg, knee, and feet (14.8%)
Arm, elbow, and hand (10.5%)
Shoulder, chest, abdomen (9.9%)
Pelvic area and hip (6.6%)
No pain at all (10.5%)
Severity of worst pain Mean pain severity of 8.2 of 10 (SD:2.3)
Mean interference score was 7.1 of 10 (SD:2.9)
Mean frequency of pain was 14 days of 30 days (SD:11.3)
Duration was in hours (category scale of Minutes (1), Hours (2), Days (3), Constant (4) mean of 2.8 with SD of 1.1)
Previous care for pain condition Visits to health professionals in the past year (mean 9.2; SD:15.9)
Visits to emergency rooms in the past year (mean 0.4; SD:1.5)
Days in the hospital in the past year due to pain (mean 0.4;SD:2.0)
Surgeries have you had for the pain (mean 0.4; SD:1.5)
Onset event for pain Nothing, pain just came on (42.7%)
Sports injury (12.1%)
Stressful situation (8.4%)
Home injury (4.7%)
Illness (4.4%)
Work injury (4.4%)
Motor vehicle accident (3.6%)
After treatment/surgery (1.8%)
After dental care (0.9%)
After medication (0.3%),
Other (16.4%)
Self-care strategies used to reduce pain(in order of frequency) Stretching exercise, eg, yoga (47.0%)
Lying down (45.0%)
Hot or cold applications (44.7%)
Staying positive in the present moment (44.6%)
Maintaining balanced relaxed posture (44.0%)
Taking breaks during day (43.3%)
Distracting self from the pain (43.0%)
Going to sleep (37.8%)
Deep breathing (37.3%)
Massaging trigger points/muscle knots (37.3%)
Conditioning exercise, eg, running or swimming (33%)
General massage (30.7%)
Long walks (29.1%)
Warm baths (28.9%)
Strengthening exercise, eg, weights (27.3%)
Meditation (28.6%)
Practicing calming technique (26.8%)
Being alone (26.6%)
Socializing or spending time with others (26.2%)
Relaxation or self-hypnosis (21%)
Being creative (18.4%)
Prayer (18.3%)
Taking herbs (15.0%)
Aromatherapy (9.5%)