Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The association between symptom severity and physical activity participation in people seeking care for acute low back pain

  • Original Article
  • Published:
European Spine Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the association between symptom severity and physical activity participation in people with acute non-specific low back pain (LBP).

Methods

The sample included a total of 999 patients who presented to primary care with an acute episode of low back pain. Symptom severity, in terms of activity limitation and severity of pain; and physical activity participation before (habitual) and after pain onset were assessed using self-report questionnaires. All participants were interviewed within 14 days of pain onset.

Results

At interview most of the participants (87.5 %) reported having moderate to extreme activity limitation due to back pain. There was a significant decrease in physical activity participation after pain onset (mean difference: −176 min, 95 % CI 327–400; p < 0.0001) but no association between habitual or change in physical activity participation and symptom severity was observed (p > 0.21).

Conclusion

Pain onset causes a significant and immediate decrease in physical activity participation, but this change does not seem to be associated with symptom severity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Andersson G (1998) Epidemiology of low back pain. Acta Orthop Scand Suppl 281:28–31

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Vos T, Flaxman AD, Naghavi M et al (2012) Years lived with disability (YLDs) for 1160 sequelae of 289 diseases and injuries 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet 380(9859):2163–2196. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(12)61729-2

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Von Korff M, Saunders K (1996) The course of back pain in primary care. Spine 21(24):2833–2837 (discussion 2838–2839)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Department of Health and Ageing (1999) An active way to better health. National Physical Activity Guidelines for Adults, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  5. Heneweer H, Vanhees L, Picavet HS (2009) Physical activity and low back pain: a U-shaped relation? Pain 143(1–2):21–25. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2008.12.033

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Verbunt JA, Westerterp KR, van der Heijden GJ, Seelen HA, Vlaeyen JW, Knottnerus JA (2001) Physical activity in daily life in patients with chronic low back pain. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 82(6):726–730. doi:10.1053/apmr.2001.23182

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Hagen KB, Hilde G, Jamtvedt G, Winnem MF (2002) The cochrane review of advice to stay active as a single treatment for low back pain and sciatica. Spine 27(16):1736–1741

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Mortimer M, Pernold G, Wiktorin C (2006) Low back pain in a general population. Natural course and influence of physical exercise—a 5-year follow-up of the Musculoskeletal Intervention Center-Norrtalje Study. Spine 31(26):3045–3051. doi:10.1097/01.brs.0000250324.03210.3f

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Verbunt JA, Sieben JM, Seelen HA, Vlaeyen JW, Bousema EJ, van der Heijden GJ, Knottnerus JA (2005) Decline in physical activity, disability and pain-related fear in sub-acute low back pain. Eur J Pain Lond 9(4):417–425. doi:10.1016/j.ejpain.2004.09.011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Jespersen T, Jorgensen MB, Hansen JV, Holtermann A, Sogaard K (2012) The relationship between low back pain and leisure time physical activity in a working population of cleaners–a study with weekly follow-ups for 1 year. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 13:28. doi:10.1186/1471-2474-13-28

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Steffens D, Ferreira ML, Maher CG, Latimer J, Koes BW, Blyth FM, Ferreira PH (2012) Triggers for an episode of sudden onset low back pain: study protocol. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 13:7. doi:10.1186/1471-2474-13-7

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. de Vet HC, Heymans MW, Dunn KM, Pope DP, van der Beek AJ, Macfarlane GJ, Bouter LM, Croft PR (2002) Episodes of low back pain: a proposal for uniform definitions to be used in research. Spine 27(21):2409–2416. doi:10.1097/01.brs.0000030307.34002.be

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Ware JE Jr, Sherbourne CD (1992) The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Med Care 30(6):473–483

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2003) The active Australia survey: a guide and manual for implementation, analysis and reporting. AIHW, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  15. Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. Report of a WHO consultation (2000). World Health Organization technical report series 894:i–xii, 1–253

  16. Heneweer H, Staes F, Aufdemkampe G, van Rijn M, Vanhees L (2011) Physical activity and low back pain: a systematic review of recent literature. Eur Spine J Off Publ Eur Spine Soc Eur Spin Deform Soc Eur Sect Cerv Spine Res Soc 20(6):826–845. doi:10.1007/s00586-010-1680-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Lin CW, McAuley JH, Macedo L, Barnett DC, Smeets RJ, Verbunt JA (2011) Relationship between physical activity and disability in low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Pain 152(3):607–613. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2010.11.034

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Hendrick P, Milosavljevic S, Hale L, Hurley DA, McDonough S, Ryan B, Baxter GD (2011) The relationship between physical activity and low back pain outcomes: a systematic review of observational studies. Eur Spine J Off Publ Eur Spine Soc Eur Spin Deform Soc Eur Sect Cerv Spine Res Soc 20(3):464–474. doi:10.1007/s00586-010-1616-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Sitthipornvorakul E, Janwantanakul P, Purepong N, Pensri P, van der Beek AJ (2011) The association between physical activity and neck and low back pain: a systematic review. Eur Spine J Off Publ Eur Spine Soc Eur Spin Deform Soc Eur Sect Cerv Spine Res Soc 20(5):677–689. doi:10.1007/s00586-010-1630-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Bousema EJ, Verbunt JA, Seelen HA, Vlaeyen JW, Knottnerus JA (2007) Disuse and physical deconditioning in the first year after the onset of back pain. Pain 130(3):279–286. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2007.03.024

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Armstrong T, Bauman A, Davies J (2000) Physical activity patterns of Australian adults. Results of the 1999 National Physical Activity Survey. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  22. Merom D, Chey T, Chau J, Smith BJ, Barr M, Bauman AE (2009) Are messages about lifestyle walking being heard? Trends in walking for all purposes in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Prev Med 48(4):341–344. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.02.010

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Chau J, Smith BJ, Bauman A, Merom D, Eyeson-Annan M, Chey T, Farrell L (2008) Recent trends in physical activity in New South Wales. Is the tide of inactivity turning? Aust N Z J Public Health 32(1):82–85. doi:10.1111/j.1753-6405.2008.00170.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Trost SG, Owen N, Bauman AE, Sallis JF, Brown W (2002) Correlates of adults’ participation in physical activity: review and update. Med Sci Sports Exerc 34(12):1996–2001. doi:10.1249/01.mss.0000038974.76900.92

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Rzewnicki R, Vanden Auweele Y, De Bourdeaudhuij I (2003) Addressing overreporting on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) telephone survey with a population sample. Public Health Nutr 6(3):299–305. doi:10.1079/phn2002427

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mrs. Anurina Das for helping with data collection.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest. They also would like to state that they have full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review data if requested.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Camperdown, Sydney, Australia

    Juliana Leme Gomes, M. Kingma, S. J. Kamper, C. G. Maher & M. L. Ferreira

  2. Department of Physiotherapy, Speech and Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, Rua Cipotânea, 51, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05360-160, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Juliana Leme Gomes & A. P. Marques

  3. Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    M. Kingma

  4. The EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    S. J. Kamper

  5. Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Sydney, Australia

    P. H. Ferreira

Authors
  1. Juliana Leme Gomes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Kingma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. S. J. Kamper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. C. G. Maher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. P. H. Ferreira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. A. P. Marques
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. M. L. Ferreira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juliana Leme Gomes.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 3.

Table 3 Sensitivity analyses of regression coefficients (95 % confidence intervals) for the association between pain severity, activity limitation, and physical activity participation (considering total time participating in physical activity not doubling vigorous activity)
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gomes, J.L., Kingma, M., Kamper, S.J. et al. The association between symptom severity and physical activity participation in people seeking care for acute low back pain. Eur Spine J 24, 452–457 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-015-3763-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-015-3763-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation