<p>The aims of the present thesis were to evaluate the management of acute WAD and to develop, describe and evaluate a cognitive behavioural approach for the physiotherapy management of long-term WAD as well as to study the predictors and mediating factors for long-term disability and pain after a whiplash injury. </p><p>Two approaches for acute and chronic WAD were evaluated in experimental studies. Fifty-nine patients with acute whiplash injury (study I) and 33 patients with chronic WAD (study V), were randomised into experimental and control groups. In addition, three chronic WAD patients participated in an experimental single case study (study IV). Home exercise programmes for patients with acute WAD were used in study I. In study IV a physiotherapy management with integrated components of cognitive-behavioural origin was tried for chronic WAD patients. In study V physiotherapy treatment in primary care units and a physiotherapy management with integrated components of cognitive-behavioural origin was tried for chronic WAD patients. Study I showed that a home exercise programme including training of neck and shoulder range of motion (ROM), relaxation and general advice, appears to be a sufficient treatment for most acute WAD patients. Further, the results of study IV and V suggest that cognitive behavioural components m be useful in physiotherapy treatment for patients with chronic WAD, but its contribution is not yet fully understood. </p><p>Study III showed that the significance of coping as an explanatory factor for disability increased during the one-year period after a whiplash injury. In study V it was concluded that self-efficacy is related to patients' use of different coping styles. A model to study coping as a mediator between self-efficacy and disability was therefore introduced. In a path-analytic framework, data from subjects in study I were re-analysed to illustrate a theoretical standpoint that emphasises the process of coping. With regard to disability, the proportion of explained variance increased from 39% at three weeks after the accident, to 79% at one-year follow-up. These results also show that coping has a crucial and mediating role between self-efficacy and disability. Positive long- term outcomes in WAD-patients would therefore be improved by, shortly after an accident, boosting self- efficacy and teaching patients to use active, adaptive coping strategies to manage their problems. </p>

The aims of the present thesis were to evaluate the management of acute WAD and to develop, describe and evaluate a cognitive behavioural approach for the physiotherapy management of long-term WAD as well as to study the predictors and mediating factors for long-term disability and pain after a whiplash injury. Two approaches for acute and chronic WAD were evaluated in experimental studies. Fifty-nine patients with acute whiplash injury (study I) and 33 patients with chronic WAD (study V), were randomised into experimental and control groups. In addition, three chronic WAD patients participated in an experimental single case study (study IV). Home exercise programmes for patients with acute WAD were used in study I. In study IV a physiotherapy management with integrated components of cognitive-behavioural origin was tried for chronic WAD patients. In study V physiotherapy treatment in primary care units and a physiotherapy management with integrated components of cognitive-behavioural origin was tried for chronic WAD patients. Study I showed that a home exercise programme including training of neck and shoulder range of motion (ROM), relaxation and general advice, appears to be a sufficient treatment for most acute WAD patients. Further, the results of study IV and V suggest that cognitive behavioural components m be useful in physiotherapy treatment for patients with chronic WAD, but its contribution is not yet fully understood. Study III showed that the significance of coping as an explanatory factor for disability increased during the one-year period after a whiplash injury. In study V it was concluded that self-efficacy is related to patients' use of different coping styles. A model to study coping as a mediator between self-efficacy and disability was therefore introduced. In a path-analytic framework, data from subjects in study I were re-analysed to illustrate a theoretical standpoint that emphasises the process of coping. With regard to disability, the proportion of explained variance increased from 39% at three weeks after the accident, to 79% at one-year follow-up. These results also show that coping has a crucial and mediating role between self-efficacy and disability. Positive long- term outcomes in WAD-patients would therefore be improved by, shortly after an accident, boosting self- efficacy and teaching patients to use active, adaptive coping strategies to manage their problems.

Whiplash är en skada som uppstår efter ett nacktrauma och besvär som uppstår pga denna skada benämns whiplashrelaterade besvär (WAD). Alla som råkar ut för ett nacktrauma får inte bestående men, men för de 10% där besvären kvarstår påverkas livsituationen avsevärt. Skadan går inte att påvisa med den medicintekniska apparatur som finns idag. De kroniska besvären är många och omfattande, ofta diffusa och kan inte alltid logiskt kopplas till nacktraumat. Patienten känner att skadan ideligen måste ”bevisas” eftersom den inte syns. Läkarvetenskapen står dessutom oenig om vad whiplash verkligen är, och om hur tillståndet ska behandlas. Den som lider av WAD söker ofta vård och vårdpersonal tycks ha bristande kunskaper om, och förståelse för, whiplashproblematiken och detta leder till ett ökat lidande för den drabbade. För att kunna förstå och stödja dessa patienter på ett optimalt sätt är det nödvändigt att skaffa sig kunskaper om hur den som lider av whiplashrelaterade besvär upplever sin livssituation och det är syftet med detta arbete. Metoden som använts är en litteraturbaserad studie av biografier. Elva berättelser om hur det är att leva med whiplashrelaterade besvär ingick i analysen. Sex teman framkom efter att de meningsbärande enheterna satts samman utifrån innebörd, skillnader och likheter. Känsla av otrygghet och ovisshet, känsla av att inte bli trodd och inte bli förstådd, känsla av sorg och saknad, behov av stöd och uppmuntran, känsla av att inte ha kontroll, och acceptans och känsla av att kunna gå vidare, var de teman som sammanfattade de upplevelser de elva whiplashskadade berättade om i sina biografier. Diskussionen tar upp betydelsen av att sjuksköterskan har en förståelse för patientens situation. En djupare diskussion förs runt temat ”känsla av att inte bli trodd och inte bli förstådd” eftersom det temat är centralt och interagerar med de andra kategorierna. / Program: Fristående kurs

Introduction: Little is known about the effect of beliefs on whiplash-associated disorders. Objective: To assess population beliefs regarding whiplash injury, to assess expectation as a predictor of recovery; to explore symptom attribution (Study III); and, assess the relationship between the Whiplash Disability Questionnaire (WDQ) and self-assessed recovery. Materials and Methods: Canadian residents were surveyed about whiplash injury; a whiplash cohort was assessed for association between expectations of recovery and recovery; whiplash patients were examined to correlate auditory symptoms and cerumen occlusion; and, Whiplash patients were asked a global recovery question and results compared to the whiplash Disability Questionnaire (WDQ). Results: Beliefs about whiplash injury were more negative. Expectations of recovery from injury increases the recovery rate. Cerumen explains auditory symptoms in whiplash patients. Patients responding yes to the recovery question had a low WDQ score. Conclusions: Population beliefs, expectations of recovery and symptom attribution are important in whiplash-associated disorders. / Experimental Medicine

The main aim of this project was to encircle the subtype of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) present in patients with chronic whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) and study the debut of TMD symptoms, the provoking factors and the outcome of conservative TMD treatments. The results could add to the aetiological discussion about TMD mainly as being part of chronic WAD pain or not. The subjects were referred patients with chronic WAD at a specialized rehabilitation centre where they were diagnosed using a standardized classification of WAD diagnosing that resulted in approximately 20% WAD grade 2 and 80% WAD grade 3. In Studies I and II, a total 136 individuals with chronic WAD were found to have a significantly higher prevalence of pain associated with TMD compared to a control group of 66 general dental patients. The symptoms debuted approximately six months after the whiplash injury and were most often provoked by stress. In Study III, the effect of a therapeutic jaw exercise (TJE) program on TMD was studied over six months in patients with chronic WAD and TMD, randomized to TJE (25 subjects) or not (30 subjects). TJE had no effect on TMD. In Study IV, patients with chronic WAD and TMD were found to have a mainly myogenous origin of TMD pain. Five months of stabilisation appliance therapy (SAT) equally resulted in an almost complete perceived reduction of jaw pain and frontal headache in patients with chronic WAD and TMD (n=14) and TMD patients without WAD (n=10). In the long-term, TMD was significantly lower in patients with chronic WAD who were treated compared to patients with chronic WAD and TMD who were not treated (n=9). TMD in patients with chronic WAD grades 2 or 3 may be the same kind of musculoskeletal disorder as in TMD patients without WAD, and not primarily part of the WAD pain. A functional TMD examination as well as assessment of perceived stress can be recommended as part of the standardized screening procedure for patients with chronic WAD grades 2 and 3. Patients with symptoms and signs of TMD could be recommended SAT. Patients with symptoms of frontal headache alone should also be considered as candidates for SAT.

Introduction: Chronic pain after whiplash trauma (chronic WAD) to the neck is still a common clinical problem in terms of pain management, rehabilitation and insurance claims. In contrast to the increased knowledge concerning mechanisms of chronic pain in general, no clinical guidelines exist concerning assessment, pain control and rehabilitation of patients with chronic WAD. Aim: The general aim of this thesis was to use experimental techniques to better understand the complex mechanisms underlying chronic pain after whiplash trauma. The specific aims of papers I and II were mainly to use analgesic drugs with different target mechanisms alone or in combinations to assess their effects on pain intensity (VAS). Experimental pain techniques were used in all studies to assess deep tissue sensitivity (electrical, mechanical and chemical stimuli). Paper IV aimed at assessing deep tissue sensitivity to mechanical and chemical stimulation. The aim in paper III was to investigate if biochemical changes in interstitial muscle tissue (trapezius muscle) could be detected in WAD patients. Materials and Methods: The thesis is based on three different groups of patients with chronic WAD. In paper III and IV two different groups of healthy controls also participated. All patients were initially assessed in the pain and rehabilitation centre. In paper I (30 patients) and II (20 patients) two different techniques of drug challenges were used. In paper I: morphine, ketamine and lidocaine were used as single drugs. In paper II: remifentanil, ketamine and placebo were used in combinations and together with experimental pain assessments. Microdialysis technique was used in paper III (22 patients from study IV and 20 controls). In paper IV (25 patients and 10 controls) a new quantitative method, computerized cuff pressure algometry, was used in combination with intramuscular saline. In all papers, experimental pain techniques for deep tissue assessment (except cutaneous electrical stimulation in paper I) were used in different combinations: intramuscular hypertonic saline infusion, intramuscular electrical stimulation and pressure algometry. Results and Conclusion: There are multiple mechanisms behind chronic whiplash-associated pain, opioid sensitive neurons, NMDA-receptors and even sodium channels might play a part. A significant share of the patients were pharmacological non-responders to analgesic drugs targeting the main afferent mechanisms involved in pain transmission, this implies activation of different pain processing mechanisms (i.e. enhanced facilitation or changes in the cortical and subcortical neuromatrix). Experimental pain assessments and drug challenges together indicate a state of central hyperexcitability. Ongoing peripheral nociception (paper III), central sensitization and dysregulation of pain from higher levels in the nervous system may interact. These findings are likely to be present early after a trauma, however it is not possible to say whether they are trauma-induced or actually represents pre-morbid variations. Clinical trials with early assessments of the somatosensory system (i.e., using experimental pain) and re-evaluations, early intervention (i.e. rehabilitation) and intensified pain management could give further knowledge.

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The overall aim of this thesis was to study the daily process of coping, potential prognostic factors for recovery and evaluating an individually tailored behavioural medicine intervention in the acute stage of Whiplash Associated Disorders (WAD). The studies comprised three samples of patients with acute Whiplash Associated Disorders (WAD). All patients were included within the first month after the whiplash occurrence and were recruited from hospital emergency wards in six Swedish communities. Study I and II included 51 participants generating 260 daily coping diaries (WAD-DCA) during seven days in the acute stage of WAD. In Study I daily stressors and primary appraisal were analysed and in Study II patterns between stressors, appraisals, coping strategy profiles, daily activity level and well-being were described. The results showed a large variety of situations that the individuals perceive as stressful, not only pain itself. High self-efficacy was associated with high degree of physical/mental well-being. Threatening stressors and catastrophic thoughts were associated with low degree of physical and mental well-being. In Study III potential prognostic factors for good as well as poor recovery were studied more closely in a mildly affected sample (MIAS) (n=98) from within the first month after the accident up to one year later. Pain-related disability at baseline emerged as the only indicator of prognosis after 12 months in MIAS. Study IV (n=55) was a randomised control study, were current clinical recommendations of standard self-care instructions (SC) for the management of acute WAD was compared to an individually tailored behavioural medicine intervention delivered via Internet or face-to-face. The results showed that SC was not as effective as the behavioural medicine intervention. By early identification of situation-specific factors and potential behavioural (physical, cognitive and affective) determinants of activity performance, it seems possible to tailor a self-management intervention that decreases pain-related disability, fear of movement and catastrophising and increases self-efficacy. The use of innovative methods such as the Internet of distributing treatment interventions showed to be a good alternative to more traditional forms. The results of this thesis uncover new insights in understanding the individual’s specific perspective as applied in a behavioural medicine approach in acute WAD.