Small weight gains can increase back pain, disability risk

A study linking body composition and back pain in men has found that as little as three kilograms of weight over five years increases pain risk and disability.

Researchers from the Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine conducted a comprehensive two-decade long study of 695 men living in Geelong. They examined men with no or low-intensity back pain and disability between 2006 and 2010 within the Geelong Osteoporosis Study.

The study, led by Professor Anita Wluka, found that across the whole age cohort, only a one-unit increase in body mass index (BMI) over the preceding five years, equivalent to 3.1 kilograms of weight gain, was associated with increased back pain and high disability a decade later.

“These results demonstrate another detrimental consequence of weight gain,” Wluka said.

Ten years later, the study identified those who had developed high-intensity pain and/or high disability. Weight, BMI, abdominal circumferences, fat mass and lean mass were assessed at the beginning and end of the 10-year period.

In older men, those with more muscle were less likely to develop severe back pain and high disability. Wluka said that this “highlights the importance of maintaining muscle mass in older men”.

While back pain is estimated to affect over 850 million people by 2050, there are limited effective treatments for back pain and disability. “Thus, there is an urgent need to identify modifiable factors to be targeted in order to reduce the burden imposed by high-intensity back pain and related disability,” Wluka said.

She added that the prevalence of back pain is higher in women compared with men, “due to anatomical, biological, psychological and sociocultural factors that differ in men and women”.

“However, this study is important because, in men of the working age group (45–74 years), the prevalence of back problems including back pain is higher in Australia and they are off work longer — so predictive factors for back pain need to be examined in men and women separately and can provide clinicians with risk factors to look out for.”

What the numbers say

• Back pain and related disability limit involvement in regular work, physical activity, socialisation and personal care, costing $4.8 billion annually in Australia.
• Individuals with severe symptoms of back pain consume double the healthcare expenses used by those with low-impact pain and are responsible for more than three-fourths of the year lived with disability attributed to back pain.
• High disability is associated with 2.5 times higher healthcare cost or societal cost and poorer quality of life than those with only pain.
   

Image credit: iStock.com/andreswd