Disclosures: Aimee Madsen, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Background and/or Objectives: To determine how higher anxiety levels impact recovery of runners with lower body injuries compared to runners with lower anxiety levels.

Design: Prospective cohort study

Setting: Academic medical center

Participants: Recreational runners (N&#3f40; 85% female; 34.0±10.9 yr; 22.1±2.4 kg/m2) with diagnoses of lower body injuries, reduced running volume and physical therapy participation. Participants were stratified by State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scores ( < 40 low anxiety and >40 points high anxiety). Runners were followed through return-to-run using monthly surveys and biometric data.

Interventions: no applicable

Main Outcome Measures: Kinesiophobia (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophoba-11), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Positive and negative scores), running recovery (University of Wisconsin Running Injury and Recovery Index [UWRI]) and quality of life (general health, days of anxiety/tension, disrupted sleep). Runing mechanics were assessed at baseline and final visit using 3D motion capture and a force-plated treadmill.

Results: Recovery time for runners with high anxiety was longer (8.3 vs 5.5 months). Runners with low STAI scores maintained low anxiety (31.5 to 30.9 points) and those with high scores remained clinically anxious at final visit (50.4 to 40.1 points; p

Conclusions: High anxiety may identify runners who will have greater challenges maintaining mental wellbeing incorporating healthy running mechanics during recovery from lower body running injuries.

Level of Evidence: Level III

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/anxiety-state-impact-on-recovery-of-runners-with-lower-extremity-injuries/