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High school students have a low level of specific knowledge. Back care education in the school curriculum is recommended.

To study the effect of an educational intervention programme concerning knowledge and postural habits for back health on a group of 10 to 11-year-old students. Two groups of 5 th grade primary school students were selected. A control group (CG) (n=16), and an experimental group (EG) (n=16) who developed a back-health educational programme. A follow-up was carried out one month after the end of the intervention. The proposed educational intervention improved the results of both the knowledge and postural habits of the participants. The increase in the level of knowledge concerning health and back care in the daily lives of the EG (x̅ =6.32) was significantly greater than that observed in the CG (x̅ =3.86), with a high effect size (U = 29.500; Z = -3.717; p <0.001, r = 0.66). In daily postural habits, the EG (x̅ = 88.38) also increased their score significantly (U= 7.50; Z = -4.55; p <0.001, r = 0.80) compared to the CG (x̅ = 74.88). In both knowledge and postural habits, the scores increased in the intervention. The educational intervention programme studied improves both knowledge and postural habits for back health of the 5th grade students participating in the study. The Physical Education class seems to be an ideal environment to develop back health educational programmes.

Purpose The most relevant musculoskeletal problems are related with back health. Study instruments have been designed for adult patient population but not for school-aged children. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a questionnaire to assess adolescents' level of back care knowledge in daily life physical activities. Methods Participants were 171 adolescents from secondary schools. The questionnaire was made up of 24 questions. A Delphi method was used for test validation. Cronbach's alpha, test-retest, Wilcoxon signed-rank and Bland-Altman graph were used to evaluate the instrument reliability. Results Cronbach's alpha (a = 0.82) showed a strong internal consistency. Test-retest was excellent for total score (0.76) and moderate to excellent (0.54-0.76) for seven score conceptual categories with good results of standard error of the mean and minimal detectable change. No differences were found between test 1 and test 2 except for the standing posture scores. ConclusionThe questionnaire showed acceptable psychometric values. Results showed that this questionnaire is a good instrument to assess adolescent's back care knowledge.

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Background. The search for scientific arguments for the inclusion of back health as a fundamental aspect in the contents of physical conditioning for health in Physical Education (PE) in schools has led us to search for the relationship between the resistance of trunk musculature and non-specific low back pain in 1st year compulsory secondary education (CSE) students. Methods. Three tests were used: the front bridge (FB) test, the dominant side bridge (SB) test, and the modified Biering-Sorensen test (BS). The Nordic questionnaire was used to assess back health. Results. The prevalence of low back pain in boys was 58.3% (n = 42), while in girls it was 52.7% (n = 39) with no statistically significant differences. In the general sample, the students who had lower levels of muscular resistance of the trunk were associated with poor back health, while the students with better results were associated with good back health values. Conclusions. The resistance levels of the trunk musculature can be associated with the level of back health in 1st year CSE students. At these ages there are no large differences in the level of core resistance strength between sexes thus facilitating inclusive work in PE.

It is well-known that low back pain (LBP) prevalence is high among school-age children. However, literature concerning the initial onset of back pain between the ages of three and eleven years is scarce. The present study aims to analyze the prevalence of LBP in kindergarten and primary school students. A total of 278 (9.9 ± 2.1 years old; 52.2% girls) students from two public kindergartens and primary schools in Valencia (Spain) participated in this cross-sectional study. The Nordic questionnaire on LBP was used to assess the onset and duration of LBP symptoms. The lifetime prevalence of LBP was 47.5% (n = 132), the last year’s prevalence was 44.2% (n = 123), and last week’s prevalence was 18.8% (n = 50). Boys and girls reported a lifetime prevalence of 52.3% (n = 64) and 47.7% (n = 63) (p = 0.186, Fisher’s exact test, 2-sided), respectively. By age group, lifetime episodes of LBP became more prevalent with increasing age (p < 0.001, Fisher’s exact test, 2-sided). In summary, our findings show that LBP increases with age and further strengthens the evidence that LBP onset could start as young as 10 years of age.

School-based interventions have reported effectiveness on back health; however, there are no specific guidelines for teaching body mechanics and posture in primary and secondary schools. To identify, describe, and analyze the educative features of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on back health developed to date in the school setting, a systematic review was performed following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) recommendations. RCTs exclusively focused on educational setting electronic databases included PubMed, EMBASE, PEDro, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, ERIC, and MEDLINE on the Ovid platform. Databases were searched for potentially eligible studies from the earliest date up to 18th March 2020. A total of 584 records were obtained from the database searches. A total of six articles that applied inclusion criteria were assessed for eligibility. All of these studies found improvements in postural habits and the level of knowledge with regard to back health, as well as a reduction in the prevalence of back pain. None of the studies used the student-centered method, and three studies used evaluation instruments with a pilot validation. Research on RCT interventions concerning back health in the school setting is scarce. None of the interventions applied a constructivist or student-centered method. The use of validated and standardized assessment instruments is required.