Disease severity versus pain severity: Range of motion differences during single- and multiplanar tasks in women with carpometacarpal osteoarthritis.

In carpometacarpal osteoarthritis (CMC OA) of the thumb, to what extent treatments should be directed by radiographic disease severity versus pain-based indicators remains an open question. To address this gap, this study investigated the relative impact of disease severity and pain severity on the range of motion in participants with CMC OA. We hypothesized larger differences would exist between extremes in the pain severity cohort than the disease severity cohort, suggesting pain modulates movement to a greater extent than joint degradation.