I've been reading a bit about kinesiophobia, or the fear of movement. It connects to lower back pain, such that after one injures the lower back they are more protective in their movements. This study confirms that people with low back pain have a more "guarded" posture while walking.
I think the implications of this are pretty important, but also pretty simple. If you injure yourself and now your body is over-protective, then what's the best way to get the body to let down its guard? I think the answer would be pain-free movement, and not movements or stretches that cause pain or discomfort. MC has written about this lately.
Some physical therapists feel that working and stretching through the pain will help reestablish normal movement patterns. I have my doubts about this. It seems like all it would do is make the body more defensive. Instead, it seems you would want to move in a pain-free way such that the body regains confidence.
This model could tie in some psychological factors as well. Mental stress could easily make the body more defensive, which could work to increase back pain. If a person reduces stress, then perhaps this could facilitate normal movement. I certainly don't think that back pain is entirely due to psychological factors, but based on what I've been reading it could be a factor.
