SOMATIC COMPLAINTS, PSYCHOLOGIC DISTRESS, AND TREATMENT OUTCOME IN 2 GROUPS OF TMD PATIENTS, ONE PREVIOUSLY SUBJECTED TO WHIPLASH INJURY

The aim of this study was to compare somatic complaints and psychologi c distress in a group of whiplash patients with temporomandibular diso rders (TMD) and a group of patients with TMD only, and to assess the o utcome after conservative TMD treatment consisting of counseling, musc le exercises, and a stabilization splint. Each group consisted of 16 p atients (12 women and 4 men) with a mean age of 42 years. The duration of the symptoms was from 1 to 3 years. In addition to a functional cl inical examination and a recording of headache frequency and intensify , the patients answered three questionnaires es: a Somatic Complaints Questionnaire (SCQ); the trait portion of Spielberger's State-Trait An xiety Inventory; and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-30-R). The whiplash patients had higher scores than the TMD patients on the SCQ m uscle score and on the following subscores of SCL-90-R: obsession, som atization, depression, and anger/hostility. The treatment outcome as a ssessed by the change of self-reported Frequency of headache, number o f tender muscles upon palpation, and change of values on a vistual ana logue scale for headache Intensity showed that the whiplash patients o btained only a decrease in the proportion of tender muscles, while tho se in the TMD only group showed improvement on all treatment criteria.