In patients with (chronic) Low Back Pain (LBP), pain-related fear or kinesiophobia is possibly one of the most prominent psychological factors underlying chronicity. Identification of kinesiophobia is mostly based on clinical perception during the clinical reasoning process, without the use of validated measures. For physical therapists (PTs) working in primary care, very often there is only limited information available about the course of musculoskeletal pain, particularly in patients with chronic low back pain (LBP). Referral data are often superficial or the patient is the only source of information.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the estimation scores and score accuracy with which PTs in primary care identify kinesiophobia in patients with LBP, using a Visual Analogue Scale for estimation (VAS-est) and for accuracy (VAS-ac), and the patients’ self-reported measures of kinesiophobia, using Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK).