THE EFFECT OF SCHOOL PHYSICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMMES ON LOW-BACK PAIN IN SCHOOLCHILDREN

Objective: to evaluate the efficacy of a 32-week school physical education programme on low-back pain in elementary and secondary schoolchildren. Material and methods: Forty-one elementary school children (fifth-grade, mean age of 10.27 ± 0.31 years) and 43 secondary school adolescents (twograde, mean age of 13.46 ± 0.68 years) were assigned to the control (n = 40) or intervention group (n = 44). The intervention subjects were involved in an organised physical education programme including hamstrings stretching, endurance strength of the abdominal and lumbar muscles, and pelvic tilt during the two-weekly school physical education classes over 32 weeks. The control group was not subjected to the organized programme. Low back pain was registered and pain intensity was recorded using the Visual Analogue Scale. Results: The experimental group showed a statistically significant decrease of low back pain frequency while the control group evidenced an increase. For pain intensity no significant differences were found. Conclusion: The children and adolescents who were subjected to the school physical education programme showed a reduction of low back pain frequency, while a tendency toward the rising frequency of low back pain was detected for the control subjects.