Screen-based sedentary behavior, physical activity, and the risk of chronic spinal pain: a cross-sectional and cohort...

Sedentary behavior (SB) is associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain, but limited evidence exists about its impact on chronic spinal pain (CSP).

This study aims to explore the relationship between SB, physical activity, and the risk of CSP.

Cross-sectional and cohort study design.

United Kingdom (UK).

We included 481872 data collected between 2006 and 2010 for cross-sectional analysis and 45,096 data with the longest follow-up up to 2019 for longitudinal analysis of data from the UK.

Screen-based SB was defined as self-reported television (TV) viewing time, computer usage time, and total screen time. CSP was characterized as self-reported neck/shoulder or back pain for more than 3 months.

Cross-sectional analyses suggested that screen-based SB is associated with a high risk of chronic neck/shoulder (OR [95%CI]=1.43 [1.31 to 1.57]) and back pain (OR [95%CI]=1.39 [1.28 to 1.52]). The longitudinal analysis showed that an increase of 1 h in daily screen-based SB was correlated with chronic back pain risk (RR [95% CI]=1.05 [1.03 to 1.07]). Replacing an equivalent amount of TV viewing time with 1 h of walking per day exhibited a connection with a lower potential for chronic neck/shoulder pain (4.82% reduction) and chronic back pain (5.26% reduction). Even replacing 10 min of TV viewing time with 10 min of physical activity demonstrated a similar trend.

Daily screen-based SB is associated with CSP, but a causal relationship cannot be established. Replacing sedentary TV time with 10 minutes of physical activity per day shows potential benefits for CSP.

The public should be encouraged to reduce screen-based sedentary behavior and increase physical activity to mitigate the risk of chronic spinal pain.