Postural deficiency syndrome, psychological evaluation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is about the psychological suffering of the patients suffering from Postural Deficiency Syndrome. Our objective is to define this psychological suffering and find the most adapted tool to highlight this pain that would be easy to use by all practitioners interested in this population. 18 patients suffering from Postural Deficiency Syndrome (PDS) were compared to a reference population, comprising 55 chronic pain patients (for more than 2 months). The main evaluation criteria “Anxiety Depression Scale” concerns items in relation with slight anxiety or depression. Secondary criteria of this study are: Visual Analogical Scales (VAS, measuring pain intensity), Pain Sites Scoring (topographic scale), DALLAS multidimensional questionnaire (functional scale) and abridgement Beck Questionnaire (evaluation of depression). We use a multidimensional statistical evaluation (factorial analysis of correspondence) and the khi2 test.

This article addresses the questions raised by that correlation between occlusion and posture as well as the therapeutic implications of a clinical approach integrating treatment of corporal posture into orthodontic care. A review of the literature shows that there is a dearth of reliable experimental data dealing with this subject. The data that is available points to the existence of this correlation and also asserts the prevalence of associations between idiopathic scoliosis and cranio-facial anomalies in adolescents.

The Anxiety Depression Scale analysis separate two subpopulations: “anxious or depressed” and “not anxious and not depressed”. There is no significant difference between the postural patients and de reference population. The two populations present the same psychological disease. The patients suffering from chronic pain expressed much higher pain than the postural patients, at the VAS analysis. The visual topographic pain scale does not contribute to differentiate the populations. The DALLAS functional scale analysis reveals the small infirmity of postural patients on usual items of chronic pain. BECK questionnaire analysis does not show significant differences between chronic pain and postural patients. So the two populations present the same psychological suffering. The Anxiety Depression Score, main criteria of our study, is very well correlated to the Beck score and can be used alone for PDS patients. It helps non psychologists to distinguish PDS patients requiring adapted treatment. Secondary psychological pain with chronic symptoms indeed acts as a break in the medical care of PDS patients.