Moseon Lee1, Jaehee Kim2

1Department of Alternative Medicine, Graduate School, 2Graduate School of Alternative Medicine, Kyonggi University, Seoul, Korea


Background: The relationship between fat mass, muscle mass and chronic low back pain is unclear and little is known about it. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between body composition and the risk of chronic low back pain in young and middle-aged Korean adults.
Methods: Data from 1807 men and 1810 women aged 19 to 64 years who participated in the fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2009 were evaluated. Chronic low back pain was defined as pain lasting for more than three months. Sociodemographic, lifestyle, anthropometric and body composition variables were analyzed using logistic regression.
Results: The prevalence of chronic low back pain was higher in women (11.5%) than in men (6.4%). In men, the risk for chronic low back pain was significantly associated with education level and alcohol use. In women, the risk factors were age, education level, occupation, physical activity, menopausal status, body mass index and waist circumference. After adjusting for covariates, total and trunk fat mass and total and appendicular lean body mass were not associated as risk for chronic low back pain in both genders.
Conclusions: Fat mass and muscle mass may not be associated with chronic low back pain in young and middle- aged Korean adults.

Korean J Health Promot 2012;12(4):187-194

Keywords: Low back pain, Body fat, Skeletal muscle