Cohort study of postural sway and low back pain: the Copenhagen City Heart Study

PurposeLow back pain is a significant health problem with a high prevalence. Studies of smaller cohorts of low back pain patients have indicated increased body sway. The present paper tests the hypothesis of an association between low back pain and postural sway in a large randomly selected population.MethodsThe current study used the fifth examination (2011-2015) of The Copenhagen City Heart Study where 4543 participated. The participants answered a self-administered questionnaire regarding pain, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, education, and other lifestyle factors. Measurement of postural body sway was performed using the CATSYS system.ResultsTotally 1134 participants (25%) reported to have low back pain. Subjects with low back pain had higher sway area and sway velocity than subjects without.ConclusionWhen using multivariate statistical analysis, confounding factors such as male gender, higher age, larger body height, low education level, smoking, and low activity level explained the association between low back pain and postural sway.