A significant number of people with heart disease develop such a major fear of movement, their health is adversely affected, new research suggests.

Kinesiophobia is described as an irrational or unreasonable fear of pain or injury if movement is required.

According to Swedish scientist, Maria Back, kinesiophobia is a relatively normal reaction after a heart-related event, such as a heart attack. Patients become afraid that any movement will harm them or lead to a recurrence of the event.

However, this can lead them to avoid exercise and rehabilitation programmes, which are essential to their health.

Ms Back looked at over 330 patients with coronary artery disease, also known as heart disease. This occurs when the coronary arteries are narrowed so much by atherosclerosis, that there is not enough blood and nutrients to supply the heart muscle.

Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) occurs when plaques, which are made up of substances such as cholesterol, build up in the lining of the arteries. This can take years to develop.

Ms Back found that at least one in five heart disease patients had kinesiophobia, a finding she described as ‘serious'.

"Patients with kinesiophobia were less likely to participate in cardiac rehabilitation, performed worse on muscle tests and reported less physical activity, primarily medium and high-frequency activities.

"They also experienced poorer quality of life, as well as higher degrees of anxiety and depression, than patients without kinesiophobia," she explained.

While a number of studies on the prevalence of kinesiophobia have been carried out in patients with other conditions, such as chronic pain, this marks the first study to look at kinesiophobia in heart disease patients.

Meanwhile, according to Ms Back of the University of Gothenburg, her research indicates that people who undergo exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation are less likely to develop kinesiophobia.

"Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation clearly reduces mortality and morbidity and has a salutary psychological impact. So designing targeted interventions for rehabilitation of patients with kinesiophobia is extremely important," she added.

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