Honors College Theses

Publication Date

4-18-2022

Major

Rehabilitation Sciences (B.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Faculty Mentor

Dr. George Davies, DPT

Abstract

Kinesiophobia is a condition in which patients experience an excessive, irrational, and often debilitating fear of movement or physical activity that results in a feeling of vulnerability in which they believe movement will cause painful (re)injury. There is limited research on the effects of kinesiophobia in athletes who suffered shoulder injuries, so the purpose of our research was to examine kinesiophobia effects in adult male baseball players who returned to sport following a shoulder injury. We hypothesized the presence of kinesiophobia and tried to measure its degree level using the 11-item Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK-11) to assess fear during general physical activity; and our modified Shoulder-Return to Sport after Injury (S-RSI) scale to assess fear during sports-related activities. There were 19 total participants whose data were analyzed following completion of our survey. Both scales showed evidence of kinesiophobia within the sample population, and there was a notable difference in degree of kinesiophobia when comparing scores between the TSK-11 and S-RSI. TSK-11 scores indicated low levels of kinesiophobia, and S-RSI scores indicated more moderate levels. Further research should be conducted on larger sample sizes, various age populations, and expanded to other overhead-throwing sports in which shoulder injuries are common.

Thesis Summary

There is limited research on the effects of kinesiophobia in athletes who suffered shoulder injuries, so the purpose of our research was to examine kinesiophobia effects in adult male baseball players who returned to sport following a shoulder injury. We used the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK-11) and our modified Shoulder-Return to Sport after Injury (S-RSI) scale, and we found a low-to-moderate presence of kinesiophobia within our sample.

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