Back pain in the young: a review of studies conducted among school children and university students

Abstract

Back Pain [BP] represents one of the most common occupational disorders among human beings, with almost all people experiencing it at some stage during their life. Despite the well-known relationships between workplace factors and BP among adults, BP also affects younger people, such as school children and university students. Although some evidence suggests an increasing prevalence of BP throughout later childhood, it is difficult to ascertain whether this reflects a true increase in prevalence, or just greater recognition of the problem by researchers and research subjects. Nevertheless, various studies have begun to highlight a variety of BP risk factors in young people, such as classroom posture, backpacks, computer usage and psychosocial factors. As today’s school children and university students may be a generation increasingly burdened by BP, it is essential that clinicians in the paediatric field keep abreast of contemporary issues and risks, so that they may more effectively deal with this growing menace.