The connection between the level of physical activity and the prevalence of low back pain among the employees of the Lipik Hospital

Sa？etak The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of low back pain among employees of the Lipik hospital and its correlation with the level of physical activity, functional ability and spinal mobility. The research was carried out among the personnel of the Special hospital for medical rehabilitation Lipik in 2017. One hundred and seven participants, 77 women and 30 men (18-65), with an average age of 39, were separated in two groups. The first group consisted of medical personnel, while the other group consisted of non-medical personnel. The level of activity was tested using the Baecke questionnaire, their functional ability through the STS 5X test, and the mobility of the spine was measured using the Thomayer test. The work index for the total sample was 3.15, sports index was 2.61, and leisure time index was 3.09, while the total activity index was 8.85. The spinal mobility was 3.97 cm and the functional ability value was 7.87 s. Low back pain was present in 54 (50.5%) participants, while 53 (49.5%) participants did not have low back pain. Subjects without low back pain had a statistically significant higher total activity index value (p = 0.028) than those with low back pain, while no differences were found in other indices of physical activity. Statistically significant higher incidence of low back pain was established in non-health workers (p = 0.039). Only the sports index had the statistically significant predictive power derived from the STS test (p = 0.003). None of the physical activity indices had a statistically significant influence on the value of Thomayer’s measure, i.e. spine mobility