Low back pain in adolescents. An assessment of the quality of life in terms of qualitative and quantitative pain variables

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Information concerning low back pain in adolescents with scoliosis is rather limited in literature. While the epidemiology of back pain at the age of adolescence has been described extensively, studies evaluating the effects of therapeutic interventions are still sparse.

MATERIAL AND METHOD:

The study was conducted in two groups with juvenile idiopathic scoliosis I ^o . The clinical group was 21 persons with low back pain and the control group was 11 persons without pain. In order to assess the quality of life and the level of pain We used the abridged version of WHOQOL (World Human Organizations Quality of Life questionnaire) and MPQ-SF (Short Form of McGill Pain questionnaire). The treatment consisted of a combination of manual therapy and rehabilitation exercises.

RESULTS:

We obtained a significant improvement in the area of the physical health: 7.17 in the clinical group ( $\mathit{p}=0.000613$ ); 6.12 for females ( $\mathit{p}=0.015400$ ); 9.19 for males ( $\mathit{p}=0.022311$ ). The assessment of the quality of life was different between the clinical and the control groups. The decrease in pain in the clinical group was 5.71 ( $\mathit{p}=0.000132$ ), 5.93 for females ( $\mathit{p}=0.001474$ ) and 5.29 for males ( $\mathit{p}=0.027709$ ). Data represents more than a double decrease in strong and moderate pain.

CONCLUSION:

A combination of rehabilitation exercises and soft manual therapy is effective in reducing the low back pain in adolescents and enhancing the somatic facet of the quality of life.