Prevalence and risk factors of chronic low back pain in university athletes: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to establish the prevalence of chronic low back pain (CLBP) in university-level athletes and to examine the influence of age, sex, body mass index (BMI), sports discipline, sleep, anxiety, and depression on CLBP. The secondary purpose was to check the association of certain variables in athletes having CLBP with the sports discipline and chronicity of LBP.

Methods: A total of 340 players (100% response rate) from different sports, aged 18-30 years with at least 1 year of participation in sports at the university level were screened for the present study. The subjects completed a detailed, semi-structured questionnaire that gathered data regarding their demographic variables, personal and pain-related factors. The study was registered on the clinical trials registry, India (CTRI/2021/09/036675).

Results: The results revealed the sport-wise point prevalence as follows: cricket (18.5%), basketball (15.6%), volleyball (20.0%), football (11.4%), badminton (7.7%) and tennis (7.7%). A higher number of years at university-level participation (>4 years), smoking, anxiety and BMI (>25 kg/m²) are risk factors for CLBP. The type of LBP, the intensity of the pain (current and last week), variation of the pain intensity, disability, intake of oral medications, physiotherapy for CLBP, number of missed days of training and number of missed matches are not significantly related to the chronicity of LBP or the sports discipline. Only the number of missed days of training had a significant association with the chronicity of LBP.

Conclusions: CLBP is a common complaint in Indian university athletes, and our findings indicate the necessity for a specific prevention program.

Keywords: Chronic low back pain; disability; prevalence; sports; university athletes.