1/3 of US Children have back pain.
Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 8:44 pm
Huh.
Back pain sucks.
Man, I should count my blessings more often. I'm...old, and I've only had a couple of spells of back pain in my whole life, and they've been blessedly short.As American kids pack on the pounds, the number of those with back pain is on the rise.
One in three between the ages of 10 and 18 said they had backaches in the past year, according to a survey of about 3,700 youngsters. The incidence rose along with kids' age and weight and was higher among those who play competitive sports.
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About 80 percent of adults suffer from lower back pain at some time, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. But this is the first time the extent of back pain among children has been estimated on nationwide scale, the authors said. The youngsters surveyed were equally split by age and gender.
On average, those who reported back pain weighed more and had higher body mass indexes, or BMIs. (BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.)
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Participation in competitive sports was strongly linked to back pain, with junior varsity and varsity athletes experiencing it more often than younger or recreational players. Most survey participants were active, with basketball the most commonly played sport, followed by dance, baseball, football and soccer.
Another contributor to kids' back pain is the backpacks they use to tote their stuff, researchers said. Those who used one strap to carry their packs reported significantly more back pain than did those who used both straps.
Those who used rolling backpacks reported back pain the most often. Fabricant said it wasn't clear whether pain prompted their use of the rolling packs or whether the rolling packs contributed to their pain.
Back pain sucks.