Assessing the sport-specific and functional characteristics of back pain in horse riders

Abstract

Currently, no standardised screening tools nor established interventions are available to address the characteristics of back pain (BP) specifically in horse riders. Therefore, the aim of this case-control study is to explore sport-specific and functional characteristics of BP in horse riders. 16 professional and 16 amateur riders (25±7 years) participated in two questionnaires (a sport-specific questionnaire and the Oswestry Disability Index questionnaire) and were examined via the physical functional movement screening (FMS) and Luomajoki’s motor control (MC) screening. The lifetime prevalence of BP was as high as 81%, and spinal discomfort in horse riders was mainly located in the lumbar spine. Professional riders revealed significantly higher prevalence of BP in the last month before assessment (P=0.014) than amateur riders. Compared to horse riders using dressage or multiple saddle types, show jumping riders (n=10) who only use jumping saddles (P=0.027) also revealed higher BP prevalence. Horse riders with lower scores on the FMS and MC screening, and thereby with more movement dysfunctions, were found to experience higher levels of pain (r=-0.582, P=0.001; r=-0.404, P=0.024, respectively) and disability caused by BP (r=-0.688; P<0.001; r=-0.474; P=0.006, respectively). Both physical screening tools are found to be clinically relevant enabling investigators to identify objective functional characteristics related to BP in horse riders. The high prevalence of BP in riders is a clinically important finding that should be explored further to elucidate the causes and subsequently guide occupational health in horse riders.

Prevalence of Low Back Pain in Portuguese Equestrian Riders

“…This value, considerably lower than those reported in previous studies [31], may reflect that half of the respondents stated that equestrianism was not their main occupation (non-professionals). A similar value was found in a case-control study on sport-specific and functional back pain features in horse riders, including 16 professional and 16 amateur riders [1]. A cross-sectional study in equestrian athletes reported a value of 74.2% for 12-months LBP [9].…”

“…In this study, the 12-month prevalence of LBP was higher in female riders, even though sex, practicing other sports, or warming up before riding had no statistical significance in the occurrence of LBP. Previous studies have also found no connection between sex [1,9,32], practicing other physical activity [9], and LBP in equestrians, even though other authors [5,11] have established that participating in other sporting activities and physical fitness can help equestrian athletes to prevent spinal injury. Age, BMI, and years of equestrian practice were not significantly different between groups with and without LBP in the past 12 months.…”

“…Equestrian sports science is an emerging field [1], and often based on experimental learning and tradition, instead of being centered on scientifical knowledge [2]. Additionally, it has been predominately focused on the horse, while the analysis of the rider has expanded only in the last two decades [2].…”

“…LBP is the most common chronic injury in equestrian athletes [7,8], and its incidence is higher in equestrian athletes than in other athletes or the general population [9,10]. The main risk factors reported for LBP in equestrian athletes are the sport itself [8], the level of expertise in the sport, consequences of an acute trauma and its poor recovery [1], asymmetry [8,10], the type of saddle [9,14], poor postural control [11] and lack of balance, stability, and alignment at the pelvic level [10,11]. Equestrian athletes with LBP tend to have affected performance (due to distraction caused by the pain), have a higher risk of falling due to earlier onset of fatigue [7,8], reduced ability to maintain the correct riding position and reduced ability to synchronize with the horse's movements [7].…”

Instruments for assessing back pain in athletes: A systematic review

“…Of the 60 articles, most were surveyed in athletes in Germany [14,18,49,[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62], in Sweden [3,[63][64][65][66], and in Iran [36,37,[67][68][69]. Moreover, also in Norway [11,70,71], Poland [72][73][74], United States [50,51,75], the Netherlands [76,77], Belgium [78], Switzerland [12,79], Finland [80,81], Australia [82,83], Spain [84,85], Saudi Arabia [86,87], Estonia [88], Serbia [89], New Zealand [90], Ukraine [91], China…”