The correlation between low back pain and disability index with lumbar lordosis among dentists

Abstract

Background — Non-specific low back pain (LBP) has direct impact on life quality, active days at work and health care costs. The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between lumbar lordosis (LL), LBP intensity and low back pain disability index (LBPDI). Material and Methods — This cross-sectional study was conducted among 52 dentists (56% male and 44% female). Dentists’ low back pain intensity and low back disability index were examined with the self-administered visual analog scale and modified Oswestry questionnaire, respectively. LL was calculated using flexible ruler based on Youda’s method. Results — The mean LBP and LBPDI were equal to 61.0±23.7 and 31.4±11.8, respectively. In addition, a significant relationship between LBP, sex and BMI as well as between LBPDI, work experience and BMI were found (P=0.001). There was a strong significant positive correlation between LBP and LBPDI (P=0.001, r=0.937). Additionally, the results showed no significant correlation between LBP, LBPDI and LL (P>0.05). Conclusion — The results suggest that despite the lack of correlation between LBP intensity and LBPDI with LL, male sex, work experience and BMI are the important risk factors associated with LBP and LBPDI in dentists and thus should be taken into consideration for preventative and intervention strategies.

Keywords

• disability index
• low back pain
• lumbar lordosis