Effects of Recreational Physical Activity and Back Exercises on Low Back Pain and Psychological Distress: Findings From the UCLA Low Back Pain Study

doi:10.2105/AJPH.2004.052993

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Am J Public Health. 2005 October; 95(10): 1817–1824.

doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.052993

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TABLE 4—

Adjusted Longitudinal Associations of Back Exercise and Recreational Physical Activity With Subsequent Pain, Disability, and Psychological Distress

	Most Severe Pain,^a OR (95% CI)	Average Pain,^a OR (95% CI)	Back Disability,^a OR (95% CI)	Psychological Distress,^b OR (95% CI)
Previous back exercise
Never	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Seldom (< 1 d/wk)	1.78 (1.23, 2.59)	1.48 (1.07, 2.03)	1.32 (0.95, 1.83)	0.87 (0.65, 1.17)
Sometimes (1–3 d/wk)	1.46 (1.10, 1.95)	1.48 (1.14, 1.93)	1.19 (0.91, 1.56)	0.93 (0.72, 1.20)
Often (4–7 d/wk)	1.64 (1.21, 2.23)	1.30 (0.97, 1.73)	1.44 (1.07, 1.94)	0.78 (0.59, 1.03)
Physical activity (weekly metabolic equivalent task score)
0	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
0.1–10.49	0.91 (0.62, 1.34)	0.95 (0.69, 1.32)	0.91 (0.64, 1.29)	1.03 (0.76, 1.39)
10.5–25.9	0.85 (0.60, 1.20)	0.85 (0.63, 1.15)	0.70 (0.50, 0.97)	0.91 (0.69, 1.20)
≥ 26	0.82 (0.57, 1.17)	0.82 (0.60, 1.12)	0.69 (0.50, 0.97)	0.75 (0.55, 1.01)

Note. Average back pain and most severe low back pain were defined as ratings of 2 or higher on 0–10 numerical rating scales; disability was defined as a score of 3 or above on the 0–24 Roland–Morris Low Back Disability Questionnaire; and psychological distress was defined as a mental health index score of less than 76.

^aAdjusted for age, gender, baseline duration of low back pain episode, number of previous low back pain episodes, assigned treatment group, social support, strategy for coping with pain, internal locus of control, previous muscle strengthening and flexibility exercising, previous mental health index score, previous value of outcome variable, and follow-up week. Back exercise effect estimates were also adjusted for previous physical activity level, and physical activity effect estimates were adjusted for previous back exercise.

^bAdjusted for age, gender, baseline duration of low back pain episode, number of previous low back pain episodes, assigned treatment group, social support, strategy for coping with pain, internal health locus of control, previous muscle strengthening and flexibility exercising, previous low back pain and disability levels, previous mental health index score, and follow-up week. Back exercise effect estimates were also adjusted for previous physical activity, and physical activity effect estimates were adjusted for previous back exercise.