Introduction: It is well documented that physical activity is beneficial for health, and inactivity is detrimental. However, it is also known that sometimes physical activity can lead to injury, which may have long-term sequels, such as back pain. This study explored the cross-sectional relationship between physical activity and back pain.
Methods: The data in this study are from the UK baseline data from the Health of Adults Longitudinal Observational (HALO) cohort study. T This study measured disability imposed by low back pain using the Oswestry Disability Index. Physical activity was measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (short form) (IPAQ-SF). Participants were classified as ‘runners’ or ‘not runners’ based on self-selected descriptors. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 29
Results: 4567 UK participants aged between 18 and 65 years completed the relevant questionnaires. 2698(59.1%) were female,4416(90.6%) white ethnicity, 1564(34.2%) were overweight or obese and 3971(86.9%) were runners.
The runners had a higher frequency of no pain in the body and a lower observed frequency of chronic spine pain compared to the others ( (χ²(4) = 17.07, p = 0.002, adjusted residuals 3.2 and -3.6 respectively)
1367(29.9%) participants completed the ODI questionnaire, 138(10%) had pain in the spine, that 107(7.8 %) of them had pain for three months or longer. 1322(96.7%) had a minimal disability(ODI less than 20%), 35 (2.6%) had a moderate disability) (ODI between 21and 40%), and 10 (0.7%) participants had severe to extremely severe disability(ODI more than 40%)
Among these 1367 participants, 937(68.5%) reported an average daily sitting of less than 8 hours, 272(19.9%) reported sitting between 8-11 hours, and 158(11.6%) sat more than 11 hours during the day. There was not a significant association between sitting behaviour and disability status (with minimal disability or having some degree of disability) (χ²(df) = 0.009, p = 0.995).
According to IPAQ-SF categorization, 899(65.8%) of the 1367 participants were highly physically active, 429(31.4%) were moderately active, and 39(2.9%) were low active. The activity level had no significant association with disability status. ( (χ²(2) = 1.59, p = 0.450).
Discussion:Our investigation into the association between physical activity, sitting behaviour, and back pain-related disability among predominantly runner participants revealed no significant correlation between Physical activity and Low back pain, contrasting some literature suggesting protecting association with moderate physical activity, and negative association at extreme activity levels. The runner-centric cohort may limit the generalizability of findings to broader populations yet offer valuable insights into the unique dynamics of runners' experiences with back pain, as the runners reported less pain in spine compared to non-runners. The nuanced understanding gained from this study underscores the importance of considering specific activity patterns within populations and highlights potential differences that warrant further investigation within the running community.