Association between low back pain and functional/kinetic aspects of surfers: disability, function, flexibility, range of motion and angle of the thoracic and lumbar spine

ABSTRACT Although surfing can contribute to chronic low backpain, the relationship between functional/kinetic changes and low back pain are still not fully understood. The association between low back pain and functional/kinetic aspects was investigated in people who had surfed for different numbers of years, in a cross-sectional study involving 66 surfers from the coast of Paraná. The participants were allocated into three groups considering how long they had surfed: G1 (up to 4.9 years), G2 (from 5 to 9.9 years) and G3 (more than 10 years). The following items were evaluated: body mass index; level of physical activity; low back pain; intensity and frequency of low back pain, low back disability, low back function, low back flexibility, low back range of motion, low back and thoracic angles. To analyze the association between functional/kinetic aspects and low back pain, Pearson’s Qui-Square test was used for categorical data, while for nominal data ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post-hoc test (p<0.05) was used. The group which had surfed the longest (G3) showed an association with the occurrence of low back pain (p=0.05) and its highest intensity (p=0.01). The group with 5 to 9.9 years of surfing (G2) showed the largest low back angle (p=0.04). We conclude that the surfer’s chronic low back pain is associated with greater pain intensity, the angle of the lumbar curvature and how long the person has surfed.