Musculoskeletal pain in schoolchildren across puberty: a 3-year follow-up study

Abstract

BackgroundChronic Musculoskeletal Pain (MSP) in children can be due to non-inflammatory conditions, such as the benign joint hypermobility syndrome (BJHS) or idiopathic MSP (IMSP). Aim of the study was to evaluate type and persistence of MSP in a cohort of schoolchildren with MSP followed for 3 years, in order to identify the main risk factors.MethodsHealthy schoolchildren, aged 8–13 years, underwent a general and rheumatologic examination, focusing on presence of chronic MSP, defined as continuous or recurrent pain lasting more than 3 months and heavily interfering with daily life activities, presence of generalized joint hypermobility, the body mass index and the pubertal stage. All symptomatic subjects were re-evaluated 3 years later with the same methods.ResultsSeventy of the 88 symptomatic subjects of the initial cohort of 289 were re-evaluated 3 years later. Of these, 38 (54.3 %) still presented MSP, including 19 with BJHS and 19 with IMSP. Main symptoms were lower limbs arthralgia and myalgia. MSP persisted more in females than in males (p = 0.038) and in pubertal rather than pre-pubertal subjects (p = 0.022); these subjects recovered significantly more both from BJHS (p = 0.004) and IMSP (p = 0.016). Gender did not influence the distribution of MSP according to pubertal stage.ConclusionsFemale gender, BJHS and pubertal stage are important risk factors for persistence of MSP. Further studies are needed to evaluate the natural history of MSP towards adulthood and the role of the pubertal age.

A Broad Consideration of Risk Factors in Pediatric Chronic Pain: Where to Go from Here?

“…Increased age (typically early adolescence rather than early childhood) is associated with various pediatric chronic pain disorders, including low back pain [8] and musculoskeletal pain [9]. That is, chronic pain appears to most often occur in adolescence rather than earlier in childhood.…”

“…The literature suggests that female youth report more severe headache and back pain [11,12,13,14], chronic musculoskeletal pain [9], temporomandibular pain disorders [15], and recurrent or functional abdominal pain than male youth [16]. However, some studies have found only minimal support for this relationship, demonstrating small effect sizes for duration and intensity of pain for girls versus boys [17].…”

Kinematic and electromyographic analysis of school children gait with and without load in the backpack

“…Considering the influence of these factors in gait and muscle activity (Aleixo et al, 2012;Sperotto et al, 2015), the authors decided to evaluate only male children before puberty.…”

Dor e sí­ndromes musculoesqueléticas em adolescentes de uma escola particular e sua relação com o uso de mídias digitais

“…A prevalência desses sintomas varia de 30% a 65% nessa população (Jannini et al, 2011;Zapata et al, 2006a;Sperotto et al, 2015;Huguet et al, 2016;Silva et al, 2016;Roth-Isigkeit et al, 2005). Ademais, os adolescentes podem apresentar síndromes musculoesqueléticas, condições que costumam ser subdiagnosticadas e que podem influenciar as atividades diárias, como a redução dos níveis de recreação e lazer (Maia et al, 2016;Hakala et al, 2012).…”

“…Desde 1990, quando a denominada "Nintendinite" foi descrita pela primeira vez (Brasington, 1990), várias lesões associadas a videogames e novas tecnologias tiveram um expressivo aumento entre crianças e adolescentes (Xie et al, 2017;Sperotto et al, 2015;Neder et al, 2014;Berolo et al, 2011).…”