  The effect of pinning on self-heating triggering the Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO)
flux-flow instability (FFI) in superconducting thin films is theoretically
investigated. The problem is considered relying upon the Bezuglyj-Shklovskij
(BS) generalization of the LO theory, accounting for a finite heat removal from
the quasiparticles at temperature $T^\ast$ to the bath at temperature $T_0$.
The FFI critical parameters, namely the current density $j^{\ast}$, the
electric field $E^{\ast}$, the power density $P^{\ast}$, and the vortex
velocity $v^{\ast}$ are calculated and graphically analyzed as functions of the
magnetic field and the pinning strength. With increasing pinning strength at a
fixed magnetic field value $E^{\ast}$ \emph{decreases}, $j^{\ast}$
\emph{increases}, while $P^{\ast}$ and $T^{\ast}$ \emph{remain practically
constant}. Vortex pinning may hence be the cause for eventual discrepancies
between experiments on superconductors with \emph{strong pinning} and the
generalized LO and BS results.
