Abstract
We aimed to examine systematically the available evidence on risk factors of low back pain (LBP) in athletes. We performed search without language restriction in PubMed, Ovid, Google Scholar, Scopus, and CINAHL. Longitudinal studies that examined possible risk factors of LBP in athletes were included in this systematic review. Based on methodological quality of studies, a best-evidence synthesis was conducted. Seven longitudinal studies were included, four of which had high methodological quality. Results showed that previous LBP, decreased lumbar flexion, and decreased lumbar extension are positively associated with LBP. There was moderate evidence for hip flexor tightness and high body weight as a risk factor. We found insufficient evidence for association between forward bending, previous injury, and amount of training per week, active years, age, and sex with LBP. In conclusion this study would provide a list of risk factors for LBP in athletes, though it showed a strong evidence for only a few including decrease lumbar flexion or extension, previous LBP, and high body weight. This review indicated a high heterogeneity of study characteristics including assessed risk factors and statistical techniques might limit the quality of evidence.
Highlights
Low back pain (LBP) is the most prevalent musculoskeletal condition in general population, as previous studies revealed an 85% to 90% lifetime incidence of low back pain [1, 2]
Keywords used in the search procedure consisted of risk factor∗, predictor, antecedent, determinant, contributing factor∗, low back pain, back pain, backache, LBP, athlete∗, and sport∗
27 articles were excluded because they indicated case control, cross-sectional, or case study design and we identified seven eligible studies that reported risk factors of LBP
Summary
Low back pain (LBP) is the most prevalent musculoskeletal condition in general population, as previous studies revealed an 85% to 90% lifetime incidence of low back pain [1, 2]. Similar to the vast majority of general population, a large number of athletes experience LBP. Athletes of particular types of sports such as ski or gymnastics are at greater risk of low back pain than nonathletes population [3, 4]. The incidence rates of low back pain in athletes have been reported 1% to 30% depending on the specific sport they are involved in [5]
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