Background: Low back Pain (LBP) is one of the most common musculoskeletal disorder among adult population i.e. 60 to 80 % in United Kingdom. Students particularly medical students suffer LBP due to high demanding curricula, requiring more study hours routinely and especially during examination.
Objective: To determine the frequency of low back pain in undergraduate students of Khyber Medical University (KMU).
Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study conducted at Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, Pakistan. The study was conducted between September, 2014 and February, 2015. Undergraduate medical students aged between 17 to 25 years participated in the study. A total of 292 students participated in the study. The undergraduate medical students of KMU institutes were included in the study while excluding students having LBP due to systemic diseases, post-surgical and neoplasm. Data was collected through a pre-validated questionnaire Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire through Non probability consecutive sampling technique. Data was analyzed on SPSS version 16.
Results: The mean age was found out to be 21.0 ± 5.8 years. The frequency of LBP in medical students was found to be 52.1 %( n=152) and in the past 12 months was 31.8 %( n=93). LBP in male students was 47.7% while in female was about 56.7 %. About 40.8% students reported mild pain on VAS. The risk factors contributing to LBP were lack of exercise, abnormal posture during study and wards hours, lack of chair with lumber support.
Conclusion: According to this study majority of the undergraduate students was suffering from Low Back Pain. The factors for LBP may be lack of physical exercise, abnormal posture during study and clinical wards or rotation and patient handling during assessment.
Key words: Low Back Pain, LBP, medical students.
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