Rückenschmerzen in UK im 10 Jahres-Vergleich
FullText: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/320/7249/1577
Kommentar
Over a 10 year interval the one year prevalence of back pain rose by 12.7%, but with no increase in the prevalence of symptoms sufficient to prevent people putting on hosiery. This suggests that the rise in outpatient attendances and sickness absence for back disorders is not explained by a greater incidence of severe back disease. We did, however, find a marked increase in the prevalence of less disabling back pain.
The surveys analysed were based on large samples selected in an identical manner, with wide geographical coverage and similar response rates. It is unlikely that the change can be explained by bias or chance. There may have been an increase in back disorders that do not greatly impair spinal flexion, but a more likely explanation is that cultural changes have led to a greater awareness of more minor back symptoms and willingness to report them, and this cultural shift may also have rendered back pain more acceptable as a reason for absence attributed to sickness. If this is correct, the solution to the growing economic burden from back pain may lie more in modifying people's attitudes and behaviour than in interventions aimed at reducing physical stresses on the spine.
