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Epidemiology of Adolescent Spinal Pain

Adolescence is the period between ten and 19 years of age according to the World Health Organization. While adolescence is generally considered a healthy time period from a musculoskeletal perspective, spinal pain appears to a common experience for many young people. Figures range from 4.7 percent to 74.4 percent. The authors feel that the rate of occurrance of idiopathic adolescent spinal pain is difficult to conlude from the studies that were reviewed. There is a lack of standardized ways in which spinal pain is defined, collected, and described.

Despite the difficulties in determining the frequency of spinal pain in adolescents, the authors feel there is evidence that the rate increases with age. By age 18 years, the prevalence is similar to that in adults. Four out of five longitudinal studies reviewed found that spinal pain in adolescence was a significant risk factor for having spinal pain in adulthood.

References: Leah Jeffries, Steve Milanese, Karen Grimmer-Somers. Epidemiology of Adolescent Spinal Pain: A Systematic Overview of the Research Literature. In Spine. November 2007. Volume 32. Number 23. Pp. 2630-2637.

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