Low back pain prevalence and characteristics in caregivers of stroke patients: a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and features of low back pain (LBP) among stroke caregivers.


METHODS
Participants included 64 caregivers of stroke survivors in our inpatient clinic. Age, gender, body weight, FIMTM, and Brunnstrom Scale of patients and low back pain history, Short Form-36 (SF-36), Beck Depression Measure (BDM), and Oswestry Disability Scale (ODS) of caregivers were reported. Descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation, and Mann-Whitney U test were used.


RESULTS
Fifty-three (82.8 %) of caregivers had LBP. Stroke survivors of caregivers with LBP (group 1) had significantly lower FIMTM scores when compared with stroke survivors of caregivers without LBP (group 2) (P < .05). All SF-36 subscores and total score of group 1 except mental health were significantly lower than SF-36 scores of group 2.


CONCLUSIONS
The lifetime, 12-month period, and point prevalence of LBP were 44.1%, 34.0%, and 19.7%, respectively, in our country. Caregivers had a higher frequency of LBP in this study. However it was a study with a small number of participants. There are many studies about stroke caregivers' depression and life quality. LBP should also be investigated.
Istanbul Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
Ebru Yilmaz
EY
Yalcinkaya
Kadriye
K
Ones
Ata Bora
AB
Ayna
Aysegul Kucukali
AK
Turkyilmaz
Nuran
N
Erden
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015995:Prevalence; D020521:Stroke / Q000451:nursing