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Why Do More Women Than Men Suffer Back Pain? Blame It on the Stork

Many studies report that women suffer more back pain than men. No one is exactly sure why. Pregnancy, hormones, natural bone loss before menopause, and different lifestyle and work environments have all been suggested as possible factors.

Because back pain is such a major cause of absence from work, it is important to understand more about why women seem to be more affected than men. This study outlined the effects of pregnancy on the statistics for back pain. The researchers looked at records for missed work days over the course of one year for all insured workers in a city in Sweden. All of the workers were between the ages of 16 and 44.

Women did have a higher rate of missing work for back pain than the men. However, when men were compared to non-pregnant women, the numbers were about the same. Pregnant women accounted for 37 percent of women who missed days of work because of back pain.

In other words, the small number of pregnant women badly skewed the statistics for all women. The authors stress that pregnancy must be taken into account when looking at the data about back pain in women.

References: Adam Sydsjö, MD, PhD, et al. Gender Differences in Sick Leave Related to Pain Diagnoses: Influence of Pregnancy. In Spine. February 15, 2003. Vol. 28. No. 4. Pp. 385-389.

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