Association between home posture habits and low back pain in high school adolescents

To investigate the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and the association with home posture habits while watching TV and using the computer in adolescents.

This is a cross-sectional study with high school adolescents in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Students answered questions regarding sociodemographic variables, lifestyle, posture (illustration), time watching TV, time using computer, time playing video game and the presence and impact of LBP. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate the association between home posture habits and LBP.

The prevalence of LBP was 46.8 % (18.2 % chronic low back pain [CLBP] and 28.6 % acute low back pain [ALBP]). As LBP consequence, 23 % (n = 253) of the students took medication, 9.1 % (n = 100) missed classes and 8.2 % (n = 90) sought a physician. Slump postures while watching TV and using the desktop computer were associated with CLBP (OR 3.22, 95 % CI 1.38-7.5 and OR 1.7, 95 % CI 1.06-2.73, respectively). Participants who watched TV seated in bed yielded an OR of 2.14 (95 % CI 1.06-4.32) for ALBP and who used the notebook lying belly down in bed yielded an odds ratio (OR) of 2.26 (95 % CI 1.02-5.01) for ALBP. Among confounding factors, female sex was associated with CLBP and ALBP, work (no) was a protective factor associated with ALBP.

Our findings support the high prevalence and the substantial impact of LBP in late adolescence and add the association with inappropriate home postural habits.