Studies suggest that low back pain (LBP) may say something about your general health. Patients with LBP often have other problems such as diabetes, headaches, hay fever, asthma, or dermatitis. Such extra problems are called comorbidities.
In this study from the Back Research Center in Denmark, 9,567 teenagers and young adults filled out a survey about back pain and other health concerns. The results showed an increase risk of headache and asthma in children with LBP.
In fact, when these two disorders occur at the same time, the chances of having back pain increase much more than if just one problem is present. Diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis weren’t linked to LBP in this age group. Back pain occurs more often in girls than boys. The increase in LBP is also common among women compared to men in adult studies.
The authors think the results of their study show that LBP starts earlier in life than we thought. It’s possible that some children are just more frail than others and more likely to develop these problems. If risk factors can be identified, then prevention could be started earlier. Maybe repeated bouts of LBP can be stopped with early treatment.