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Multiple Choice

Which of the following is a yellow flag example?

Yellow flags are psychosocial factors that raise the risk of ongoing pain and disability after an injury. They reflect mood and fear-based patterns that can drive avoidance and poor engagement with rehab. Depressive symptoms and anxiety are classic examples because they can dampen motivation, amplify pain perceptions, and lead to negative coping. Kinesiophobia, the fear of movement, directly shapes behavior and activity restrictions, which can perpetuate pain and dysfunction. Pain acceptance, in contrast, is a positive coping approach where the patient acknowledges pain without letting it dictate function, and it’s associated with better engagement and outcomes rather than a barrier to recovery. So the factors that fit yellow flags here are depressive symptoms, anxiety, and kinesiophobia, while pain acceptance is not a yellow flag.

Yellow flags are psychosocial factors that raise the risk of ongoing pain and disability after an injury. They reflect mood and fear-based patterns that can drive avoidance and poor engagement with rehab. Depressive symptoms and anxiety are classic examples because they can dampen motivation, amplify pain perceptions, and lead to negative coping. Kinesiophobia, the fear of movement, directly shapes behavior and activity restrictions, which can perpetuate pain and dysfunction. Pain acceptance, in contrast, is a positive coping approach where the patient acknowledges pain without letting it dictate function, and it’s associated with better engagement and outcomes rather than a barrier to recovery. So the factors that fit yellow flags here are depressive symptoms, anxiety, and kinesiophobia, while pain acceptance is not a yellow flag.