Musculoskeletal Pain in Omanis, and the Relationship to Joint Mobility and Body Mass Index

Abstract

In a house-to-house population survey of representative areas of Oman, 920 adults were examined and questioned about musculoskeletal pain. Back pain was reported in 42% of females and 25% of males, and knee pain in 15% of females and 18% of males. Hip pain occurred in only three females (0.6%) and one male (0.2%), which is consistent with a protective effect of squatting. In rural communities musculoskeletal pain was more common, and less anatomically localized. Joint mobility scores were higher in females than males and, at all nine sites included in the Beighton score, laxity was significantly more common in females than males. The scores declined with age, and were higher than those reported in Europeans and similar to those in Africans and Indians. Extreme joint laxity (score 7-9), seen only in females, was associated with increased symptoms in those aged 16-25 years. Body mass index was higher in females with back or knee pain than in those without such pain. In males, only knee pain was associated with higher body mass index.

An exploration of the prevalence of hypermobility and joint hypermobility syndrome in Omani women attending a hospital physiotherapy service

“…This was similar to the prevalence reported in a house-to-house population survey in Oman, in which 29% of the surveyed females aged 16-25 years had hypermobility (Pountain, 1992), but lower than that reported by Al-Rawi et al (1985), which recorded a prevalence of hypermobility of 38.5% in female Iraqi students aged 20-24 years. This discrepancy may be due, in part, to the fact that in the current study, subjects were excluded from the comparison group if they reported having had pain in the previous six months.…”

“…In order to interpret these fi ndings, several aspects merit further discussion. The average ages of the subjects in the participant and comparison groups was 35.9 years and 28.0 years, respectively, which were older than those recorded in previous population studies recording hypermobility (Al-Rawi et al, 1985;Pountain, 1992). However, the average ages of the participants in this study was younger than those recorded in a study in a north London community hospital, in which the average age among females was noted to be 53.5 years.…”

“…Pountain (1992) recorded higher incidences of pain in those with Beighton scores of 7-9/9, but the results were based on only nine females. In a Canadian study, Hudson et al (1998) reported that 35% of patients attending rheumatology clinics for soft-tissue rheumatism met the criteria for generalized hypermobility; this study comprised predominantly a Caucasian group, aged from 16-70 years.…”

“…The prevalence of widespread or polyarticular hypermobility has been estimated to be between 10% and 35% (Al Rawi et al, 1985;Pountain, 1992;Verhoeven et al, 1999), with Asian and African populations noted to be more hypermobile than Caucasians (Beighton et al, 1999). Women are more hypermobile than men, and hypermobility has been shown to decrease with age.…”

Joint hypermobility

“…There is some epidemiological evidence that lean body mass reduces symptoms (Pountain, 1992) and that weight gain aggravates them. Certain sports aggravate specifi cally (such as contact sports) and these should be avoided (Biro et al, 1983) but controlled sports such as swimming, cycling, the majority of athletics, yoga and even certain gymnastic exercise may be benefi cial in stabilizing the joints by increasing muscular power.…”