COVID work-from-home led to increased back pain in Malta

A study has found that the sedentary lifestyles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an enhanced back pain occurrence in Malta, especially among those who were working from home or exercising only a few times per week.

The study was carried out by Stephan Grech, Joseph N. Borg and Sarah Cuschieri, and subsequently published in the peer-reviewed journal Muscoskeletal Care. A total of 388 participants were recruited for the survey.

The results of the study, which explored the occurrence of back pain since the onset of COVID-19, found that those who reported continuously sitting down were 15 times more likely to experience back pain when compared to those who were moving around regularly.

Similarly, those who reported not performing any physical activity, or performing physical activity a few times a week, exhibited a higher chance of experiencing back pain compared to those performing daily physical activity.

With 49% of participants in the study reporting having experienced back pain since the onset of COVID-19, from this cohort, over half of participants reported not having experienced any chronic back pain in the past.

Since the start of the pandemic, almost half of participants reported a shift to remote working, while 17% reported following a roster-based schedule, working from home on some days, and working from the office on others.

While an increase in smoking and alcohol consumption was reported by the minority of the participants, a significant difference was present in physical activity patterns between pre-COVID and post-COVID periods.

In fact, half of participants reported experiencing an increase in weight since the onset of COVID-19.

49% of participants reported having experienced back pain since the onset of COVID-19, out of which 61% reported low back pain and 39% required pain killers to relief the pain.

The results of the survey suggest that this enhanced back pain could be originating due to imposed COVID-19 lifestyle changes.

The study makes reference to the fact that prolonged periods spent sitting down results in low activation of the lumbar muscles, with transmission of loads to lower back muscles, in turn leading to lower back pain.

The authors also point out that those suffering from chronic back pain are more susceptible to experiencing back pain during periods of additional stressors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, apart from this, a lack of ergonomic office furniture available at home could have also contributed to this increased back pain prevalence in Malta after the pandemic.

The authors of the study also brought up the reported link between sedentary lifestyles as brought on by COVID-19 and increased weight gain, noting that a proportion of participants in the back pain cohort reported having experienced an increase in body weight throughout the pandemic.

All this appears to represent a health trade-off that took place throughout the pandemic. While increased facemask use led to less cases of influenza and the common cold, the sedentary lifestyles brought on with these changes led to increased prevalence of back pain and weight gain.

In fact, the authors suggest setting up a back pain clinic at primary healthcare level, and warn that the enhanced back pain occurrence since COVID-19 is anticipated to lead to a higher disability and population burden on healthcare systems.

This is suggested because lower back pain was the second leading cause of disease and disability in Malta pre-COVID, in turn leading to premature deaths as measured by the disability-adjusted life year (DALY).