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Low back pain frequency no different for elite athletes and non-athletes
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Low back pain was no more prevalent in athletes who participate in endurance sports that require long-term, repetitive back loading than non-athletes, based on a cohort study by Norwegian researchers.
They examined the self-reported prevalence of low back pain (LBP) in elite athletes who row, cross-country ski or participate in orienteering and compared that to controls. The investigators focused on athletes who reported LBP in the previous year and those who reported LBP for more than 30 days in the last year.
“Low back pain was not more common among former endurance athletes with specific back loading compared with non-athletes,” Ida S. Foss, PT, MSc, and colleagues stated in the abstract. “The results indicate that years of prolonged and repetitive flexion or extension loading in endurance sports does not lead to more LBP.”
Foss and colleagues noted that previous LBP episodes and training volume that exceeded 550 hours per year were risk factors for LBP. Of athletes who reported having LBP, rowers were more likely to report LBP than orienteerers, but more rowers and skiers sought outpatient medical assistance than orienteerers or non-athletes. In rowers, LBP was prevalent enough to cause 13% of them to change occupations whereas 7% of skiers and 3% of orienteerers changed occupations due to LBP, according to the abstract.
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