Psychosomatic background of cervical spine pain assessed during the Covid-19 pandemic period

Background
By location, cervical spine pain ranks second only to L-S spine pain. The causes of spi- nal pain can be many, and we must not forget that they can also be psychosomatic in nature.

Aims
This study aimed to evaluate the association of the severity of cervical spine pain with stress in- tensity and disability in subjects examined during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Material and methods
he study involved 47 sub- jects with a mean age of 34.5 ± 5.9 years. The participants were divided into a study group (24 women and 11 men), subjects characterized by cervical spine pain, and a control group (6 women and 6 men), subjects without pain. The study used a diagnostic survey method using the author's questionnaire augmented by research using the PSS-10 Perceived Stress Scale, the NDI Cervical Disability Index, and the Visual Analogue Scale for Pain (VAS). Abbreviations need to be elaborated on, as here they occur for the first time.

Results
The mean value of the PSS-10 in the study group (with pain complaints) was 18.4 points, while in the control group (without pain com- plaints), the value was lower at 16.1 points. The percentage of subjects characterized by a high stress level was significantly higher in the study group (48.5%) than in the control group (16.6%). The pain level for those in the group identified as representing a low stress level was 2.4. For the group with an average stress level, 2.6, while the highest values - 3.8 - were recorded in the group in which the stress level was identified as high. For the study group, the average disability in subjects with low stress intensity was 4.0 ± 2.8, average 5.4 ± 5.6, and high 8.1 ± 3.9. For the control group of subjects with low stress, the intensity was 2.6 ± 2.1, an average of 2.6 ± 1.7, and high 4.0 ± 0.0.

Conclusions
The study shows that people with cervical spine pain are more characterized by a high-stress level than those who do not report pain. Those in the high-stress group report- ed higher cervical spine pain compared to the low- and medium-stress groups. The study also showed that those with higher stress levels have a greater cervical spine disability.