Mazyad Alotaibi

Establishing preventive measures and treatment strategies for adolescents with low back pain (LBP) may be greatly enhanced by fully grasping the complex interaction between LBP and lifestyle behaviors. The key objective of this study was to explore the possible associations between lifestyle behaviors and LBP among adolescents in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among high school students from 5 major regions in Saudi Arabia. Participants were enlisted for the research project between May and November 2021. To evaluate the presence/severity of LBP, physical activity, sedentary duration, sleep quality, nutrition, health responsibility, interpersonal relationships, spiritual growth, and stress management, a well-established web-based survey was employed. A total of 2000 students participated, with 57.9% reporting LBP. Students with LBP had lower scores on overall health-promoting lifestyle behaviors and all subscales, including physical activity, compared to those without LBP. Linear regression analysis revealed significant associations between sedentary duration and global sleep quality with pain severity among students with LBP. This study highlights the association between lifestyle behaviors and LBP among adolescents in Saudi Arabia. Promoting physical activity, reducing sedentary behavior, and improving sleep quality may be crucial in preventing and managing LBP in this population. Comprehensive strategies targeting lifestyle behaviors should be implemented to improve the well-being of adolescents and reduce the burden of LBP. Further research is needed to better understand the underlying mechanisms and develop effective preventive and treatment strategies for LBP among adolescents.

Background: The Pain Behavioral Scale (PaBS) measures the presence and severity of pain behavior. We examine the longitudinal construct validity of the PaBS using convergent and known-groups approaches on a population of 23 participants with chronic lower back pain (LBP) undergoing routine physiotherapy care and pain neuroscience education. Methods: Participants who satisfied study inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited from patients who attended two testing sessions at physiotherapy clinics in Saudi Arabia. Participant pain behavior was initially measured using the PaBS scale; participants performed standardized physical tests (e.g., repeated trunk flexion) and provided baseline demographic, clinical data, and self-reported measurements using the Modified Roland and Morris disability questionnaire (MODI), fear-avoidance questionnaire (FABQ), and pain catastrophizing scale (PCS). In subsequent visits, a physiotherapist provided usual care to participants, and weekly sessions were established for online pain-neuroscience education. During week six, participants repeated the same questionnaires and physical performance tests with the PaBS. Paired t-tests are used to compare changes in health characteristics from baseline responses to those in week six. Correlations between changes in PaBS from baseline to week six, with changes in outcome measures (i.e., disability, pain intensity, fear-avoidance beliefs, catastrophizing), were determined. To assess known-group validity, we also used a general linear model. Results: A total of 23 participants completed the PNE and follow-up data collection. The mean change from baseline in the PaBS score was statistically significant, as were changes in MODI, FABQ, and PCS. Almost 70% of participants improved their PaBS scores over the six-week period, with PaBS scores of almost 40% of them improving by three units or more. The change in PaBS score correlated significantly with changes in the PCS-rumination subscale, supporting a proposed approach to estimate convergent validity (r = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.04–0.72, p = 0.035). Conclusions: The mean change from baseline in the PaBS score is statistically significant, as are changes in MODI, FABQ, and PCS, supporting its convergent validity. According to our STarT Back groups, the medium to low-risk group had a lower PaBS score, and high-risk group had a higher PaBS score, indicating that PaBS use in clinical assessment may identify people according to pain-behavior severity, or those at increased risk of developing disability.