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. 2025 Jan 30;25(1):396.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-21453-9.

The association of previous and current non-chronic low back pain with daily physical activity in middle- and older-aged adults

Tatiana Rehder Gonçalves  1   2 , Diana Barbosa Cunha  3 , Mauro Felippe Felix Mediano  4   5 , Amal A Wanigatunga  4   6 , Eleanor M Simonsick  7 , Jennifer A Schrack  4   6
Affiliations

The association of previous and current non-chronic low back pain with daily physical activity in middle- and older-aged adults

Tatiana Rehder Gonçalves et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a leading cause of years lived with disability. However, the association of non-chronic LBP with levels of daily physical activity (PA) remains poorly explored. This study investigated the association between previous and current non-chronic LBP with daily PA and compliance with PA recommendations in middle and older-aged adults.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis including volunteers from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging who answered questions about LBP and wore an Actiheart accelerometer for 7days. Generalized linear models and logistic models were used and adjusted for potential confounders.

Results: 662 volunteers were included (50.8% women, 68.1% white), aged 68.0 (± 11.4) years. Previous non-chronic LBP was reported by 240 (36.3%) participants with mean pain intensity of 3.5 ± 2.0 (ranging from 0 to 10). Current non-chronic LBP was reported by 5.7% (n = 38) with mean pain intensity of 4.1 ± 2.3. Participants reporting current non-chronic LBP had lower levels of total (β -0.18, 95% CI -0.34 to -0.02) and vigorous (β -0.29, 95% CI -0.56 to -0.007) daily PA and lower odds of meeting PA recommendations (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.92) compared to those reporting no LBP. No association was observed for LBP intensity. Conversely, previous non-chronic LBP showed no statistically significant association with daily PA levels.

Conclusion: The presence of current non-chronic LBP seems to be negatively associated with PA levels driven mainly by lower engagement in vigorous PA. No association was observed for pain intensity.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Musculoskeletal health; Physical activity; Public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The data used in the analyzes of this manuscript were obtained and approved for use by the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), a study carried out by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). The BLSA study protocol was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the National Institutes of Health Intramural Institutional Review Board. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Participant flow diagram BLSA– Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging; LBP– low back pain
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Percentage of participants meeting physical activity recommendations by LBP status (p-value -*No LBP X Current LBP = 0.037; ɫ Previous LBP X Current LBP = 0.014) LBP– low back pain; PA– physical activity
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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