Back pain
Nearly 40% of Youth have Back Pain
How prevalent is back pain among school-aged
youth? To find out, researchers surveyed 481 children, aged
8 to 10 years, and 325 adolescents, aged 14 to 16 years.
All subjects were students in Denmark.
Findings showed that "The
1-month prevalence of back pain was 39%. Thoracic pain is most
common in childhood, whereas thoracic pain and lumbar pain
are equally common in adolescence. Neck pain and pain in more
than one area of the spine are rare in both age groups. No
gender differences were found."
In addition to obesity, children
who watched Tv for longer hours had an increased risk of headache,
back pain, eye symptoms and sleep problems were found to be
more often among children who watched television longer.
Wedderkopp
N, Leboeuf-Yde C, Andersen LB, Froberg K, Hansen HS Back
pain reporting pattern in a Danish population-based sample
of children and adolescents Spine 2001
(Sep 1); 26 (17): 1879-1883
In-School Posture Awareness Classes
Prevent Back Pain
Teaching children about proper posture
may keep them free of future backache, according to a report
by researchers in Spain. As part of the experiment,
106 third-grade students participated in 11 sessions of either
a posture awareness program or no intervention.
Results revealed
that "The level of knowledge
and motor skills in the experimental group showed a significant
increase immediately after the intervention finished, and
at 6- and 12-month intervals . . . In an independent health
check carried out by the local school health services 4 years
after application of the postural hygiene program, the results
tended slightly to favor the experimental condition over
the control conditions (placebo + no intervention). A significantly
greater number of the control subjects " required medical
treatment for low-back pain."
Mendez FJ, Gomez-Conesa A. Postural
hygiene program to prevent low back pain Spine.
2001 (Jun 1); 26 (11): 1280-1286
Intensive Sports Training may Provoke
Back Pain in Children
Thoracic hyperkyphosis is linked
with an increased risk of back pain. Because sports activities
during childhood are thought to provoke thoracic hyperkyphosis,
researchers looked at 407 girls and 1,863 boys, aged 8 to
18 years. Mid-sagittal curves were evaluated and subjects
were also asked about the number of hours they spent engaged
in sports activities.
Cumulative training time was positively
correlated with larger thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis.
These curves were most pronounced in gymnasts. In contrast,
youngsters who did not engage in sports had the smallest
curves. Age and gender were not related to spinal curvature,
according to the report.
Wojtys EM, Ashton-Miller JA, Huston
LJ, Moga PJ. The
association between athletic training time and the sagittal
curvature of the immature spine Am J
Sports Med. 2000 (Jul-Aug); 28 (4): 490-498
Disc Degeneration Predispose Children
to Low Back Pain
A 9-year study highlights the long-term
effects of lumbar intervertebral disc disease in children
and adolescents. Investigators surveyed 1,503 14-year-olds.
In total, 7.8% of subjects reported recurrent low back pain
(LBP). Scientists then compared a subgroup of 40 children
with recurrent LBP with 40 pain-free controls. The children
underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 15 and 18 years
of age and were questioned about the existence of LBP at
ages 15, 18 and 22.
Participants who showed signs of disc degeneration
at age 15 were 16 times more likely to report LBP at age
23. The study concluded that, "individuals with disc degeneration
soon after the phase of rapid physical growth not only have
an increased risk of recurrent low back pain at this age,
but also a long-term risk of recurrent pain up to early adulthood."
Salminen
JJ, Erkintalo MO, Pentti J, Oksanen A, Kormano MJ Recurrent
low back pain and early disc degeneration in the young Spine.
1999 (Jul 1); 24 (13): 1316-1321
Study Compares X-Ray Changes With Pain
Symptoms
To determine a link between x-ray signs
of vertebral deterioration and pain symptoms, investigators
tracked 159 adults, aged 20 to 65 years. At the study's initiation,
all of the patients were asymptomatic. The subjects underwent
lateral cervical radiographs at the study's onset and again
10 years later.
Results showed that "With age, there is
an increase in the number of subluxations and the incidence
and severity of degenerative changes. Pain is more
likely to develop in persons with degenerative changes at
C6-C7."
Gore DR Roentgenographic
findings in the cervical spine in asymptomatic persons:
a ten-year follow-up Spine. 2001
(Nov 15); 26 (22): 2463-2466
Back Pain in Children Progresses to
Adult Years
This report was based on a 25-year prospective
cohort study and designed as a self-administered questionnaire
with low back pain as the main topic. OBJECTIVE. To identify
whether radiologic changes in the thoracic and lumbar spine
and a history of low back pain in the adolescent period represent
risk factors for low back pain in adults. Six-hundred-forty
14-year-old school children were examined with x-rays of
the thoracic and lumbar spine and registered by the school
doctor regarding a history of low back pain. Eleven percent
of the cohort had a history of low back pain in adolescence,
and the results showed an 84% lifetime prevalence of low
back pain in these subjects as adults and an increased frequency
of low back pain the last month and week before they answered
the questionnaire, compared with the rest of the cohort.
This
study suggests that low back pain in the growth period is "a real problem," with
a trend toward aggravation as time passes. Thus, implementing
preventive measures in schools may be very important.
Harreby
M, Neergaard K, Hesselsoe G, Kjer J Are
radiologic changes in the thoracic and lumbar spine of adolescents
risk factors for low back pain in adults? A 25-year prospective
cohort study of 640 school children Spine
1995 (Nov 1); 20 (21): 2298-2302
Back Pain and Degenerative Changes
in the Spine
Using MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) this
study investigated the frequency, pattern, and sequence of
early degenerative changes in the lumbar spine. The frequency
of disk degeneration at follow-up was greater in the patients
with LBP (increased from 42% to 58%) than among the asymptomatic
subjects (from 19% to 26%)
Degenerative changes emerge rapidly after the adolescent
growth spurt. The MR imaging appearance of the degenerative
processes is similar regardless of symptoms, although these
processes are more common in symptomatic adolescents and
develop at an earlier age. There appears to be a positive
correlation between degenerative lumbar disk disease and
LBP in adolescence.
Erkintalo MO, Salminen JJ, Alanen AM,
Paajanen HE, Kormano MJ Development
of degenerative changes in the lumbar intervertebral disk:
results of a prospective MR imaging study in adolescents
with and without low-back pain Radiology
1995 (Aug); 196 (2): 529-533
Additional articles on the adverse effects of heavy
back packs on our children:
The Backpack Page
@ Chiro.Org
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/325/7367/743
Bookbags:
What Every Parent Should Know
Carrying
the Back Pack Issue Into the Schools
Back
Packs: Your Child's Spine is at Risk
Children and Back
Pain