Kinesiophobia in Crohn's disease: A matched case-control study

Background Crohn’s disease (CD) is a long-term inflammatory condition and a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disorder characterized by recurrent gastrointestinal symptoms and substantial physical and psychological burden. However, evidence regarding kinesiophobia in patients with CD remains scarce. Objectives To compare kinesiophobia levels between patients with CD and age-, sex-, and body mass index-matched healthy controls using the Spanish short version of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia Spanish Version (TSK-11SV). Material and Methods A matched case-control study was conducted including 108 participants (54 patients with CD and 54 healthy controls). Demographic and anthropometric variables were collected, and all participants completed the TSK-11SV questionnaire. Group differences in continuous variables were analysed using appropriate inferential statistics after assessment of data distribution. Kinesiophobia severity categories were compared using Contingency tables and measures of association. Effect sizes were calculated to improve clinical interpretation of the findings. Results Patients with Crohn's disease presented significantly higher TSK-11SV scores than healthy controls (27.35 ± 6.19 vs. 23.39 ± 5.33 points, respectively). The mean difference was 3.96 points (p < 0.001), corresponding to a moderate effect size (Cohen's dz = 0.69). Moderate-to-extreme kinesiophobia was identified in 70.4% of patients with CD compared with 40.7% of healthy controls (p = 0.015). Extreme kinesiophobia was observed exclusively in the CD group. Conclusions Individuals with CD exhibit significantly greater fear of movement than healthy controls. These findings suggest that kinesiophobia may constitute an important psychological barrier to physical activity in CD and should be routinely considered during multidisciplinary disease management. Early identification of patients with elevated kinesiophobia may facilitate the implementation of individualized exercise-based interventions aimed at improving long-term physical and psychological outcomes.