• Brocha Z Stern and Tsu-Hsin Howe.
• Department of Occupational Therapy, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: brocha.stern@nyu.edu.
• J Hand Ther. 2021 Oct 1; 34 (4): 577-584.

IntroductionIdentifying hand therapists' knowledge and beliefs about pain can illuminate familiarity with modern pain science within hand therapy.Purpose Of The StudyThe primary aim was to identify hand therapists' knowledge of pain neurophysiology. Secondary purposes were to explore demographic variation in knowledge, describe practice-related beliefs about pain science, and explore associations between knowledge and beliefs.Study DesignCross-sectional descriptive survey study.MethodsAn electronic survey, including the Revised Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire (R-NPQ) and Likert-type questions about practice-related beliefs, was distributed to American Society of Hand Therapists members.ResultsData from 305 survey responses were analyzed. R-NPQ accuracy ranged from 42% to 100%, with a mean of 75% (9/12 ± 1.5). Certified hand therapists scored, on average, 0.8 points lower than their noncertified peers. Participants with a doctoral degree scored 0.7 or 0.6 points higher, respectively, than those with a bachelor's or master's degree. Objective knowledge of pain neurophysiology was positively associated with perceived knowledge of pain science (ρ = .31, P < .001). Associations between R-NPQ and perceived importance of knowing pain science; confidence in pain-related evaluation, treatment, and education; and frequency of incorporating pain science principles into practice were small but statistically significant (ρ = .12-.25, P = <.001-.04).ConclusionsAlthough hand therapists recognized the importance of knowing pain science, they had objective and subjective limitations in that knowledge. Specific errors in their R-NPQ responses suggest misconceptions related to the modern differentiation between nociception and pain. Blurring of these constructs may relate to participants' self-reported practice emphasis on acute versus chronic conditions. Future studies should explore knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about pain beyond R-NPQ scores to understand variation in practice and training needs.Copyright © 2020 Hanley & Belfus. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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