The Back Pain and Body Posture Evaluation Instrument (BackPEI) was created in 2013 to assess back pain and its risk factors in school children. However, it does not assess neck pain or the habits of mobile device usage, which are aspects that are often part of school children’s lives. Therefore, we aimed to update the BackPEI questionnaire to include new questions assessing aspects related to neck pain and the use of mobile devices and to test the content validity and reliability of the new questions. The updated questionnaire was named Back Pain and Body Posture Evaluation Instrument for Children and Adolescents (BackPEI-CA). The content was validated by eight experts using the content validity index (CVI). To assess reliability, the BackPEI-CA questionnaire was applied at two different times in 105 school children, and Cohen’s kappa (k) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were calculated. All aspects assessed regarding content validity had a CVI higher than 0.8. The new questions presented moderate and good kappa values and excellent ICC values. The updated version of BackPEI-CA can be used as a clinic tool for assessing the presence, frequency, and intensity of back and neck pain and their risk factors.

We live in a world in which global warming, pollution, social injustice, inequity and population health fundamentally influence each other. As a result, health and health care can no longer be thou...

Owing to the lack of longitudinal studies in Latin American countries, we aimed to evaluate back pain and its risk factors in a 3-year longitudinal study of Brazilian adolescents. We analysed data of 525 adolescents (aged 11–16 years) attending primary school (fifth to eighth grade) in Brazil. The students were administered the self-reported Back Pain and Body Posture Evaluation Instrument (BackPEI) questionnaire in 2011 and at a follow-up evaluation that was conducted 3 years later (2014). Back pain was the outcome variable; the exposure variables included exercise, behavioural, hereditary and postural factors. Generalized estimating equations were used to perform a Poisson regression model with robust variance to evaluate the risk factors for back pain. The prevalence of back pain at baseline was 56% (n = 294); this increased significantly at the 3-year follow-up evaluation to 65.9% (n = 346). The frequency of experiencing back pain also significantly increased after 3 years in both boys (p = 0.002) and girls (p = 0.001). The prevalence of back pain increased significantly in adolescents up to the age of 13 years, stabilized in those aged 14 years and older and was higher among girls. A family history of back pain (in the parents), watching television for lengthy periods and carrying a backpack asymmetrically were predictors for back pain.

The Back School is characterized as an educational program aimed at individuals who have chronic pain in spine. In Brazil, a growing number of research studies on the effects of such programs have been observed in the last decades. Thus, the purpose of this systematic re- view was to identify studies on Back Schools carried out in Brazil with a population of adults and elderlies, and to compare their intervention methodologies, data collection tools, and results. A search for scientific articles and Master's and doctoral theses in several databases was conducted. The keywords used in that search were Postural Program; Postural School; Back School; Back Care Education; Back Education, as well as the respective terms in Portuguese. Eigh- teen studies were found, being fourteen quantitative and four qualitative studies. The studies showed many differences between them, in both the interventions proposed and the meth- odological design. However, the use of similar tools for assessing pain intensity, functional capacity, and quality of life between the quantitative studies allowed a partial comparison of the efficacy of those programs. The studies included in this systematic review demonstrated, in general, the immediate efficacy in reducing pain and improving functional capacity and quality of life after the Back School. Results, however, are still conflicting regarding the ef- ficacy in the medium and long terms. Thus, it becomes necessary to conduct further studies that include follow-up assessments in the medium and long terms in order to obtain more accurate conclusions about the efficacy of Back Schools

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) has been related to hips, trunk and spine strength imbalances and/or low flexibility levels. However, it is not clear if the assessment and normalization of these variables are effective for prevention of low back pain (LBP) episodes and rehabilitation of patients with CLBP. This brief review explored studies that have associated hip, trunk and spine strength imbalances and/or low flexibility levels to LBP episodes or CLBP condition. Fourteen studies were selected by accessing PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Collectively, the selected studies demonstrate that trunk eccentric/concentric and flexion/extension strength imbalances may be associated with CLBP or LBP episodes. However, the literature fails to demonstrate any clear relationship between hip strength imbalances or low levels of spine flexibility with CLBP or LBP episodes. In addition, there is no direct evidence to support the idea that the normalization of these variables due to resistance and flexibility training leads to pain reduction and functionality improvements in subjects with CLBP. Although further investigation is needed, the lack of a clear direct association between hip strength imbalances or spine low flexibility levels to CLBP or LBP episodes may demonstrate that these variables may have very low effect within the complexity of these conditions.