Arthritis and Pain News:

Significant Differences Found Between Sexes on Back Pain

Significant differences exist between men and women when it comes to back pain, the second most common reason people visit a doctor, according to a survey released August 10 of physicians who regularly treat the condition.

Forty-seven percent of the 200 primary care physicians who participated in the survey said most male patients with acute back pain attribute their symptoms to a job related injury. In contrast, 37% of doctors say women most often complain of back pain associated with activities around the home, such as housework, gardening or childcare.

"The source of acute low back pain is not always clear, but the majority of episodes result in muscle spasm," said Gerard Malanga, M.D., director of the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, N.J. "The good news, however, is that with the appropriate treatment, nearly 90 percent of patients will fully recover in about two months."

On average, 58 percent of physicians say they treat their patients with acute back pain by prescribing a muscle relaxant. Fifty-two percent of the responding physicians believe that patients who take a muscle relaxant return to normal activities sooner than those who do not take one.

Three in four physicians surveyed believe patients expect to resume normal activity within 6 days of beginning treatment, although the doctors expect it will take about 7 to 13 days. Eighty-three percent of the physicians agree that patients with acute back pain should stay active while undergoing treatment, instead of staying in bed.

"Rest periods longer than two days have not been shown to be effective, and can actually slow recovery from back pain," said Malanga. "The sooner a back pain sufferer obtains relief, the sooner normal activity can be resumed."

Doctors also report that men complain of exercise and sports-related back pain injuries more often than women, and the two genders identify different activities as the source of their discomfort.

By far, physicians cite weight lifting (46%) as the most common exercise-related cause of acute back pain for men, followed by golf (18%), basketball (10%) and football (9%). Thirty-seven percent of physicians say their female patients identify running as the most common exercise related cause of their back pain, followed by tennis (15%) and weight lifting (14%).

The survey was conducted within the United States by Harris Interactive in April 2004 for McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, makers of the muscle relaxant Flexeril® (cyclobenzaprine HCl).

Source: Medical Week Staff, week of August 9, 2004