Objective Limited research has addressed how kinesiophobia associates with recovery from sport concussion (SC). The primary objective of this study was to evaluate whether kinesiophobia levels within 72 hours of SC influenced time to self-reported asymptomatic (SRA) while controlling for symptom burden and concussion history. We hypothesized that athletes who endorsed Tampa-Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) scores above a clinically accepted threshold would take longer (days) to SRA than athletes with subthreshold TSK scores.

Design Descriptive laboratory.

Setting Collegiate athletic training clinic.

Participants Division 1 collegiate athletes (N=50, 20.5 ± 1.6 years, 28 male, 22 female) within 72 hours of a diagnosed SC.

Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors) Participants were assigned to high (>37[H-TSK) or low TSK (<37[L-TSK]) groups. Symptom burden was recorded via the Revised Head Injury Scale (HIS-r). Participants reported their history of medically diagnosed concussion(s) during a pre-injury assessment.

Outcome Measures Multiple linear regression models evaluated days to SRA among both the TSK total score and between groups, controlling for symptom severity and concussion history. Analyses were performed with α=0.05.

Main Results The omnibus model was statistically significant, F_{(3, 46)}=4.50, p=0.007, R² =0.17. Controlling for symptom burden and concussion history, time to SRA increased as total TSK score increased, b _{TSK_Total}=0.2, p=0.04. On average, controlling for the same variables, the L-TSK group SRA 2.87 days sooner compared to the H-TSK group b _L-TSK = -2.87, p=0.05 (mean=6.7 vs. 9.7 days respectively).

Conclusions Our data suggest that athletes with TSK scores ≥37 can experience a longer time to SRA following SC. These findings are suggestive of prognostic values of the TSK following SC.