An evaluation of low back-pain-related content in Canadian newspaper media

Review of newspaper articles.

To assess the content of newspaper articles in 2 provinces in Canada to determine if rest or avoidance of activity is being recommended for back pain.

Inaccurate back pain beliefs in the general public may arise due to messages in the mass media. One persisting belief in Canada is that rest or activity avoidance is needed until back pain resolves.

We searched newspapers in 2 Canadian provinces via an electronic database for articles discussing back pain. Two trained raters used an article review template to indicate whether the article's main recommendation was to stay active, rest, was neutral (indicating a balance between rest and activity), or did not provide advice on level of activity during an episode of back pain.

One hundred 29 articles were identified. The primary advice provided related to level of activity during an episode of back pain was stay active in 24% of articles, whereas no articles primarily recommended rest or avoidance of activity. Sixteen percent of articles were rated as neutral, indicating the authors suggested a balance between rest and activity.

Back-pain-related newspaper articles do not carry messages that advocate rest or avoidance of activity, but rather highlight the importance of staying active during an episode or participating in exercise.