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Prevalence of back pain in adolescent pupils according to their activity

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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the lifetime prevalence of back pain (BP) in adolescent pupils depending on their activity level.

Methods

372 Austrian pupils, 155 Bavarian soccer club members and 150 youth athletes who participated in summer camps of the Munich Soccer School 2013 took part in this cross-sectional retrospective cohort study. An iPad-compatible survey was used to measure several information on occurrence, cause, type, localization and risk factors of BP as well as the activities in sports.

Results

Prevalence of BP showed to be highest in the inactive group (63 %), while soccer athletes (33 %, p < 0.001) and club members of other sports (29 %, p < 0.001) differed significantly. Also, higher body mass indexes (BMI) accounted to be more likely connected to BP than lower ones. Conflicting other studies, the thoracic pain turned out to be the most concerned spine complaint.

Conclusion

A u-shaped curve best describes the connection between activity and the risk for developing BP, while five to six training hours per week seem to be the optimal activity level. These findings moot a closer look at school sport activities as a preventive factor for BP, especially for complaints of the thoracic spine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sportorthopaedic Institute, FIFA F-MARC Munich, Schön Klinik München Harlaching, Harlachingerstr. 51, 81547, Munich, Germany

    Thore-Björn Haag, Christina Beckmann, H. Michael Mayer & Christian Schneider

  2. Paracelsus University, Salzburg, Austria

    Christina Villefort & H. Michael Mayer

Authors
  1. Thore-Björn Haag
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  2. Christina Villefort
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  3. Christina Beckmann
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  4. H. Michael Mayer
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  5. Christian Schneider
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thore-Björn Haag.

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Conflict of interest

None.

Ethical approval

The experimental protocol was conducted according to the declaration of Helsinki

Informed consent

An informed consent was obtained from the parents as well as informed assent from all players.

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Haag, TB., Villefort, C., Beckmann, C. et al. Prevalence of back pain in adolescent pupils according to their activity. Sport Sci Health 12, 383–387 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-016-0302-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-016-0302-0

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