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Abstract

Introduction: Chronic pain is one of the common problems associated with spinal cord injuries (SCI), which causes many complications. For example impairment in daily activities, low quality of life, sleep disorders, depression, anxiety, anger and poor adjustment. The pain usually starts within the first 6 months after injury and is typically resistant to treatment. Researchers now believe that the bio-psychosocial perspective may provide a better understanding of pain in SCI. Therefore, this study intended to evaluate the relationship between pain and demographic, injury characteristics, socio-economic and social support in individuals with spinal cord injury in Iran. Materials & Methods: The participants were 140 individuals with SCI, 72% men and 28% women, with mean age of 29.4�±7.9 years, referred to Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (BASIR), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, between 2012 and 2013. The Persian version of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) was used to measure the pain and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) was used to measure social support through structured face-to-face interviews in SCI individuals. Results: About 50.7% complained about having pain, in which 79.3% had bilateral pain. The most common locations of pain were lower limbs and back. The most quality of pain were described as aching and tingling (74.4%), followed by pressure, coldness and feeling electric shock sensations. The frequency of pain in individuals with paraplegia was higher than tetraplegia, and in individuals with incomplete was higher than complete injury. Patients with a medium level of education had the least pain compared to high and low level of education. SCI individuals with good economic situation reported higher frequency of having pain. There was no significant relationship between pain and social support. Conclusion: These findings revealed the importance of socioeconomic factors such as economic situation and educational level in understanding chronic pain in people with SCI and provide further support for the bio-psychosocial model.

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