Cabral C1, Almeida I2
1Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, Master’s and Doctoral Program in Physical Therapy, São Paulo, Brazil, 2Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, Physical Therapy, São Paulo, Brazil
Background: Chronic low back pain is potentially disabling in older adults because of its negative influence on the daily life. Functional disability is described as the difficulty or impossibility of carrying out day-to-day activities. Thus, the functional capacity of the older adults with chronic low back pain has been studied as one of the main indicators of health status of this population, through scales that are more sensitive to specific alterations, improving the focus of attention to the elderly.
Purpose: To verify and categorize the most disabling activities of older adults with nonspecific chronic low back pain and its correlation with pain intensity.
Methods: We assessed 73 patients aged 65 to 85 years with chronic nonspecific low back pain and pain intensity greater than or equal to 3 points in the Pain Numerical Rating Scale. Pain intensity perceived by the patient in the last seven days was assessed by the 11-point Pain Numerical Rating Scale, with 0 being “no pain” and 10 being “pain as bad as could be”. Specific disability was assessed by the Patient-Specific Functional Scale, which evaluates three main activities that the patient has difficulty or inability to perform due to low back pain. Each activity was assessed in an 11-point scale with 0 being “unable to perform the activity” and 10 being “able to perform the activity at pre-injury level”. The average score of the three activities was calculated. The higher the score is, the better the specific capacity. The description of each activity was categorized in four types: daily living, leisure, professional or other, and data was presented as percentage. The correlation between specific disability and pain intensity was analyzed by the Pearson's correlation.
Results: The 73 patients had a mean age of 70 years, 82.2% were women and slightly overweight according to the body mass index, 61.6% were married and 38.4% had complete primary education. Considering the specific activities described as more difficult to perform due to low back pain, 87% were activities of daily living, as ironing clothes and squatting; 8.8% were other activities, as standing for 30 minutes and performing sudden movements; and 4.2% were leisure activities, as walking 2 km and dancing. None of the activities described were related to professional activity. Specific disability showed a mean of 4.3 points and pain intensity showed a mean of 6.8 points. A weak correlation was found between specific disability and pain intensity, with r=-0.112.
Conclusion(s): The assessed older adults found a greater difficulty to perform activities of daily living. A weak correlation between specific disability and pain intensity was found.
Implications: Despite the moderate to high levels of specific disability and pain intensity found in the assessed patients, the weak correlation between these clinical outcomes shows that they are independent in older adults with chronic low back pain.
Keywords: Low back pain, Older adults, Disability
Funding acknowledgements: São Paulo Research Foundation process number 2016/12962-0; PIBIC - CNPq
Purpose: To verify and categorize the most disabling activities of older adults with nonspecific chronic low back pain and its correlation with pain intensity.
Methods: We assessed 73 patients aged 65 to 85 years with chronic nonspecific low back pain and pain intensity greater than or equal to 3 points in the Pain Numerical Rating Scale. Pain intensity perceived by the patient in the last seven days was assessed by the 11-point Pain Numerical Rating Scale, with 0 being “no pain” and 10 being “pain as bad as could be”. Specific disability was assessed by the Patient-Specific Functional Scale, which evaluates three main activities that the patient has difficulty or inability to perform due to low back pain. Each activity was assessed in an 11-point scale with 0 being “unable to perform the activity” and 10 being “able to perform the activity at pre-injury level”. The average score of the three activities was calculated. The higher the score is, the better the specific capacity. The description of each activity was categorized in four types: daily living, leisure, professional or other, and data was presented as percentage. The correlation between specific disability and pain intensity was analyzed by the Pearson's correlation.
Results: The 73 patients had a mean age of 70 years, 82.2% were women and slightly overweight according to the body mass index, 61.6% were married and 38.4% had complete primary education. Considering the specific activities described as more difficult to perform due to low back pain, 87% were activities of daily living, as ironing clothes and squatting; 8.8% were other activities, as standing for 30 minutes and performing sudden movements; and 4.2% were leisure activities, as walking 2 km and dancing. None of the activities described were related to professional activity. Specific disability showed a mean of 4.3 points and pain intensity showed a mean of 6.8 points. A weak correlation was found between specific disability and pain intensity, with r=-0.112.
Conclusion(s): The assessed older adults found a greater difficulty to perform activities of daily living. A weak correlation between specific disability and pain intensity was found.
Implications: Despite the moderate to high levels of specific disability and pain intensity found in the assessed patients, the weak correlation between these clinical outcomes shows that they are independent in older adults with chronic low back pain.
Keywords: Low back pain, Older adults, Disability
Funding acknowledgements: São Paulo Research Foundation process number 2016/12962-0; PIBIC - CNPq
Topic: Musculoskeletal: spine
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Universidade Cidade de São Paulo
Ethics committee: Research Ethics Committee
Ethics number: 53162216.9.0000.0064
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
