Musculoskeletal pain distribution in 1,000 Danish schoolchildren aged 8–16 years

Abstract

Background: Knowledge about the occurrence and distribution of musculoskeletal problems in early life is needed. The objectives were to group children aged 8 to 16 according to their distribution of pain in the spine, lower-and upper extremity, determine the proportion of children in each subgroup, and describe these in relation to sex, age, number-and length of episodes with pain. Method: Data on musculoskeletal pain from about 1,000 Danish schoolchildren was collected over 3 school years (2011 to 2014) using weekly mobile phone text message responses from parents, indicating whether their child had pain in the spine, lower extremity and/or upper extremity. Result are presented for each school year individually. Results: When pain was defined as at least 1 week with pain during a school year, Danish schoolchildren could be divided into three almost equally large groups for all three school years: Around 30% reporting no pain, around 40% reporting pain in one region, and around 30% reporting pain in two or three regions. Most commonly children experienced pain from the lower extremities (~60%), followed by the spine (~30%) and the upper extremities (~23%). Twice as many girls reported pain in all three sites compared to boys (10% vs. 5%) with no other statistically significant sex or age differences observed. When pain was defined as at least 3 weeks with pain during a schoolyear, 40% reported pain with similar patterns to those for the more lenient pain definition of 1 week. Conclusion: Danish schoolchildren often experienced pain at more than one pain site during a schoolyear, and a significantly larger proportion of girls than boys reported pain in all three regions. This could indicate that, at least in some instances, the musculoskeletal system should be regarded as one entity, both for clinical and research purposes.

Differential diagnosis in children with musculoskeletal pain in Emergency Department

“…In our study single location of the pain was reported more often than multi-site pain. This correlates with the ratio of single-to multi-site musculoskeletal pain in Danish schoolchildren [17]. In the Spanish epidemiological study on musculoskeletal pain in pediatric HED the most common complaints are the pain at the wrist, ankle and finger, which represent over 50% of reported localization [6].…”

Development of the Young Disability Questionnaire (spine) for children with spinal pain: field testing in Danish school children

“…Low back pain is one of the main contributors to the global burden of disease among the adult population causing disability and loss of work capacity 1 2. Several studies have concluded that the younger population also is affected by spinal pain3–5 and that children and adolescents with spinal pain are likely to continue their spinal pain into adulthood 6–8. The consequences among children and adolescents with recurrent low back pain are serious with 31% having skipped sports and other physical activities and 26% having been absent from school 9 10.…”

Bio-psycho-social characteristics and impact of musculoskeletal pain in one hundred children and adolescents consulting general practice

“…Adolescent MSK pain has long been assumed to be innocuous with a limited impact beyond the pain experience. However, evidence indicates that adolescent MSK pain is associated with psychological distress [ 3 ], decreased quality of life [ 4 ], and a negative impact on sports participation and social activities [ 5 , 6 ]. The prognosis of adolescent MSK pain is not as favorable as once assumed, and around one in every two adolescents with MSK pain continue to have pain even 1–4 years after onset [ 7 ].…”