Sedentary Behavior & Spinal Pain in Children & Adolescents

Almost 40% of children 19 years-of-age report having spinal pain at least once in their lifetime, and this becomes chronic or recurrent in about 25% of children and adolescents. The presence of spinal pain during adolescence is a strong predictor of its occurrence in adulthood, making the onset of spinal pain during childhood or adolescence an important stage for prevention and early intervention.

Most spinal pain in adolescents has no apparent pathoanatomical basis and biomechanical factors, like motor performance and backpack weight, are not consistently associated with spinal pain in the young. Evidence supporting the role of sedentary behavior is inconsistent, even though the evidence is moderate to strong that sedentary behavior is associated with obesity, adverse effects on blood pressure, cholesterol levels, physical fitness, self-rated health, life satisfaction, social behavior, academic performance, and psychological health in young people.

Therefore, the main objective of this systematic review was to evaluate whether sedentary behavior is a risk or prognostic factor for spinal pain in children and adolescents. Specifically, the authors wanted to: 1) estimate the direction and strength of the association between spinal pain in children and adolescents, 2) determine if sedentary behavior increases the risk for the first onset or recurrence of spinal pain, and 3) assess whether sedentary behavior worsens the prognosis of spinal pain in children and adolescents.

This week’s Research Review: Sedentary Behavior & Spinal Pain in Children & Adolescents

This paper was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (2024)

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