Prevalence of back pain and the knowledge of preventive measures in a cohort of 11619 Polish school-age children and youth-an epidemiological study.

The study sought to characterize back pain (BP) (in the period of 12 months) in children and youth aged 10 to 19 from eastern Poland.The study included 11619 children and youth (6254 girls and 5365 boys) aged 10 to 19 from eastern Poland. An original questionnaire was applied as a research tool. Before the study, the reliability of the questionnaire had been assessed. The Kappa coefficient value for all the analyzed variables was equal to or higher than 0.91.Over 74.4% of the respondents admitted that within the last 12 months, they had experienced BP which was usually located in the lumbar spine (55.8%). The percentage of individuals reporting BP increased with age of participants. Girls reported BP more often than boys (82.8% vs 64.3%). The main circumstances in which BP occurred included lifting heavy objects, carrying school backpack and maintaining a sedentary position (70.7% vs 67.4% vs 67.8%). Over 67% of the respondents declared they did not know ergonomic principles.High prevalence of BP was noted. The declared BP was mainly located in the lumbar spine. Girls reported BP more often than boys. The students presented a very low level of knowledge about ergonomics. Therefore, the appropriate education should be included at school.

Back pain in physically inactive students compared to physical education students with a high and average level of physical activity studying in Poland.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was (1) to characterise back pain in physically inactive students as well as in trained (with a high level of physical activity) and untrained (with an average level of physical activity) physical education (PE) students and (2) to find out whether there exist differences regarding the declared incidence of back pain (within the last 12 months) between physically inactive students and PE students as well as between trained (with a high level of physical activity) and untrained (with an average level of physical activity) PE students. METHODS: The study included 1321 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-year students (full-time bachelor degree course) of Physical Education, Physiotherapy, Pedagogy as well as Tourism and Recreation from 4 universities in Poland. A questionnaire prepared by the authors was applied as a research tool. The 10-point Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to assess pain intensity. Prior to the study, the reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by conducting it on the group of 20 participants twice with a shorter interval. No significant differences between the results obtained in the two surveys were revealed (p < 0.05). RESULTS: In the group of 1311 study participants, 927 (70.7%) respondents declared having experienced back pain within the last 12 months. Physically inactive students declared back pain frequency similar to the frequency declared by their counterparts studying physical education (p > 0.05). Back pain was more common in the group of trained students than among untrained individuals (p < 0.05). Back pain was mainly located in the lumbar spine. CONCLUSIONS: A frequent occurrence of back pain (70.7%) was noted in the examined groups of students. The percentage of students declaring back pain increased in the course of studies (p < 0.05) and, according to the students' declarations, it was located mainly in the lumbar spine. No significant differences regarding the incidence of back pain were found between physically inactive students and physical education students (p > 0.05). The trained students declared back pain more often than their untrained counterparts (p < 0.05).

The Influence of the "Straighten Your Back" Command on the Sagittal Spinal Curvatures in Children with Generalized Joint Hypermobility.

Objectives. The aim of the study was to assess the change of sagittal spinal curvatures in children with generalized joint hypermobility (GJH) instructed with "straighten your back" command (SYB). Methods. The study included 56 children with GJH. The control group consisted of 193 children. Sacral slope (SS), lumbar lordosis (LL), global thoracic kyphosis (TK), lower thoracic kyphosis (LK), and upper thoracic kyphosis (UK) were assessed with Saunders inclinometer both in spontaneous positions (standing and sitting) and after the SYB. Results. Children with GJH after SYB presented the following: in standing, increase in SS and decrease in TK, LK, and UK (P < 0.01), with LL not significantly changed; in sitting: decrease in global thoracic kyphosis (35.5° (SD 20.5) versus 21.0° (SD 15.5), P < 0.001) below the standards proposed in the literature (30-40°) and flattening of its lower part (P < 0.001). The same changes were observed in the control group. Conclusions. In children with generalized joint hypermobility, the "straighten your back" command leads to excessive reduction of the global thoracic kyphosis and flattening of its lower part. Therefore, the "straighten your back" command should not be used to achieve the optimal standing and sitting positions.

Low Back Pain and Everyday Functioning of Students.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of low back pain episodes (over a period of 12 months) and everyday functioning of students suffering from it. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study enrolled 1321 students of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of Bachelor-level programmes in Physical Education, Physiotherapy, Pedagogics, and Tourism and Recreation at 4 universities in Poland. An original questionnaire was used. A 10-point VAS scale was used to assess pain intensity. The reliability of the questionnaire had been assessed before commencing the study by administering it twice at a month's interval to a group of 20 people. No significant differences were noted between the results obtained in the two tests (p<0.05). RESULTS: Our analysis of the frequency of low back pain episodes showed that the respondents who experienced pain rarely (1-2 episodes per year) constituted the biggest group. With regard to pain intensity, mild pain, reported by 43.4% of the respondents, was most common. Over 20% of the subjects reported severe pain. A considerable percentage of the respondents (over 20%) limited their physical activity because of low back pain and 4.4% had to give up physical activity altogether. Nearly 60% of the subjects reported that the low back pain made it difficult for them to sit for prolonged periods, while nearly 50% had difficulty standing. CONCLUSIONS: 1. This study of a group of students from eastern Poland revealed that low back pain is common. 2. Low back pain interferes with or limits daily activities of the students, such as sitting, standing or physical activity.

The examination of the musculoskeletal system based only on the evaluation of pelvic-hip complex muscle and trunk flexibility may lead to failure to screen children for generalized joint hypermobility.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate whether the clinical assessment of the pelvic-hip complex muscle and trunk flexibility is sufficient for diagnosing generalized joint hypermobility (GJH). DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: Center of Body Posture in Olsztyn, North East Poland. PARTICIPANTS: The study included 136 females and 113 males aged 10-13 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: In order to assess muscle flexibility, the straight leg raise (SLR) test (for hamstring) and modified Thomas test for one- (O-JHF) and two-joint (T-JHF) hip flexors were performed. To evaluate trunk flexibility the fingertip-to-floor (FTF) and lateral trunk flexion (LTF) tests were used. The GJH occurrence was assessed with the use of nine-point Beighton scale (threshold value ≥5 points for females, ≥4 for males). The analysis was carried out separately for females and males. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between females with versus without GJH, and males with versus without GJH regarding SLR (p = 0.86, p = 0.19 for females and males, respectively), O-JHF (p = 0.89, p = 0.35 for females and males, respectively), T-JHF (p = 0.77, p = 0.4 for females and males, respectively), FTF (p = 0.19, p = 0.84 for females and males, respectively) and LTF (p = 0.58, p = 0.35 for females and males, respectively) tests results. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical examination of the pelvic-hip complex muscles and trunk flexibility by use of SLR, O-JHF, T-JHF, FTF and LTF revealed to be insufficient in diagnosing GJH in children aged 10-13 years. Thus, the Beighton scale should be considered a standard element of physiotherapeutic examination of the musculoskeletal system in children and youth.