Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity and its Association Among Patients with Low Back Pain

Objective To evaluate the physical activity levels in individuals with low back pain (LBP) and its relationship with various demographic variables like age, gender, number of days off from work and nature of occupation. Methodology This was a cross-sectional study that was done in a private hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Data was collected between the periods of 2017-2018. All patients who attended the orthopedic outpatient department (OPD) with LBP were included in this study and were requested to fill the Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity (RAPA) questionnaire. The gathered data were analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL), version 23. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the mean difference in RAPA scores between genders, age, occupation and number of leaves from their work.  Results Three hundred sixty patients visited the orthopedic OPD with the primary complaint of LBP, 318 (88.3%) were male whereas 42 (11.7%) were female. The study revealed that among these patients, 117 (32.5%) led sedentary while 176 (48.9%) led an underactive lifestyle. Furthermore, 246 (68.3%) patients did not do any activity that increases their muscle strength and flexibility. Conclusion The findings of this study revealed that low physical activity is prevalent in patients with LBP. Therefore, the importance of physical activity should be highlighted in order to prevent chronic diseases like LBP.