Episode 36: Fear Avoidance in Patients & Providers

<p>In this episode, we explore fear avoidance. As humans, we all experience fear and some of us exhibit fear avoidance behaviors. As people exhibit more fear avoidance, they also report higher pain intensity levels. This has consistently shown up in pelvic pain, pelvic girdle pain, and persistent musculoskeletal conditions. </p> <p>We talk through Sammy’s patient who exhibited high fear avoidance and how they began confronting it. We also explore how fear-avoidance influenced Monika’s clinical practice and how often we see this with healthcare providers. It’s not just patients who demonstrate fear-avoidance! In order to do no harm, we need to be aware of our own beliefs and how that shapes our practice too. We hope this one helps you consider fear-avoidance in your work! </p> <p> </p> <p>Highlights from our conversation in Episode 36</p> <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">(0:34) What is fear-avoidance </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">(1:45) A case of high fear-avoidance </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">(4:50) Addressing the patient’s fears head-on </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">(8:16) Graded exposure to reduce fear  </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">(12:26) Healthcare providers also demonstrate fear-avoidance!</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">(17:51) Factors that contribute to our individual differences in fear </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">(20:32) Changing our own and our patient’s beliefs </li> </ul> <p>Thank you for listening to The Conscious Clinician. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and write a review for the podcast so we can reach more people!</p> Resources from Episode 36 <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">The fear-avoidance article we reference! (1:08, 12:41) Rainville J, et al. Fear-avoidance beliefs and pain avoidance in low back pain—translating research into clinical practice. 2011;11(9), 895–903.         <a href='https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21907633/'>doi:10.1016/j.spinee.2011.08.006</a>     </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">(10:29) <a href='https://thecons