Low-back pain and back pain in children and adolescence – recent perception

Abstract

The incidence of back pain in children and adolescents is on rise and is becoming one of the more common reasons for visiting doctor. Most of back pain cases are due to “nonspecifi c” reasons and are associated with lifestyle changes including reduced physical activity, longer sitting and passive overload of the spine and trunk muscles. Painful spine with restricted mobility, longer lasting and night pain, pain that worsens with movement and activity, sneezing, and other activities that increase intra-abdominal pressure, neurologic disturbances and fever suggest an organic cause of pain and are “specifi c” back pain. Careful history taking and physical examination with roentgenograms are the basis of diagnosis. Then, other imaging methods like magnetic resonance imaging are often a key to the diagnosis.