Loading...
Relationship between fear of movement and physical activity in patients with cardiac, rheumatologic, neurologic, pulmonary, or pain conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Goubran, Miriam Farajzadeh, Ata Bilodeau, Martin Boisgontier, Matthieu P.
Goubran, Miriam
Farajzadeh, Ata
Bilodeau, Martin
Boisgontier, Matthieu P.
Editors
Other contributors
Epub Date
Issue Date
2025-04-06
Submitted date
Alternative
Abstract
Objective: Physical activity contributes to the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of multiple diseases. However, in some patients, fear of movement may induce avoidance behaviors and reduce engagement in physical activity. This study aims to examine whether this fear of movement is negatively associated with physical activity across several health conditions and what factors may influence this relationship. Methods: Five databases were searched for studies including both a measure of fear of movement and physical activity. Two reviewers screened articles for inclusion, assessed risk of bias, and extracted data from each study. Pearson product-moment correlations were pooled from eligible studies using the generic inverse pooling and random effects method to examine the relationship between fear of movement and physical activity. Results: Seventy-four studies were included in the systematic review and 63 studies (83 estimates, 12,278 participants) in the main meta-analysis. Results showed a negative correlation between fear of movement and physical activity (r = −0.19 [95% CI = −0.26 to −0.13]; I<sup>2</sup> = 85.5%). Funnel plot analysis showed evidence of publication bias, but p-curve analysis suggested that our results could not be caused by selective reporting. A subgroup meta-analysis showed that the correlation was statistically significant in patients with cardiac, rheumatologic, neurologic, or pulmonary conditions but not in patients with chronic or acute pain. Conclusions: Our results suggest that higher levels of fear of movement are associated with lower levels of physical activity in several health conditions that are not necessarily painful. Impact: Fear of movement should be dissociated from pain and considered in relation to specific health conditions when implementing exercise therapy. Fear of movement may have prognostic and therapeutic implications in patients for whom physical activity contributes to prevent recurrence or worsening of their condition.
Citation
Goubran, M., Farajzadeh, A., Lahart, I.M., Bilodeau, M., Boisgontier, M.P. (2025) Relationship Between Fear of Movement and Physical Activity in Patients With Cardiac, Rheumatologic, Neurologic, Pulmonary, or Pain Conditions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Physical Therapy, 105(6), pzaf050, https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzaf050
Publisher
Journal
Research Unit
PubMed ID
40188486 (pubmed)
PubMed Central ID
Embedded videos
Additional Links
Type
Journal article
Language
en
Description
© 2025 The Authors, published by OUP. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence.
The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzaf050
Pre-print available at: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.08.17.23294240
Series/Report no.
ISSN
0031-9023
EISSN
1538-6724
ISBN
ISMN
Gov't Doc #
Sponsors
M.P.B. is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; RGPIN-2021-03153), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Mitacs, and the Banting Research Foundation. A.F. is supported by an Admission Scholarship, a Doctoral International Scholarship, and a Special Merit Scholarship from the University of Ottawa. M.B; is supported by NSERC (RGPIN-2018-06526).