Do "Myths" of low back pain exist among Irish population? A cross-sectional study.
BACKGROUND
Low back pain remains major public health problem in the Western industrialized world. The known prevalence of low back pain in Ireland is approximately 13 %. It is one of the leading causes of sickness compensation and disability pension in our justification. We hypothesized that there is a widespread misconception about the perception of low back pain among the Irish population. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the "Myths" of low back pain existed among the Irish population.


METHODS
We carried out a cross-sectional study in the Republic of Ireland from April 2013 to August 2013. The Irish population who visited Galway University Hospital, Galway, Ireland, was contacted randomly at point of entry to the hospital. During the survey, the authors obtained verbal consent before handing the questionnaire, which contained the Deyo's seven myths. The responders were asked to mark their response in a three-point scale (agree, unsure, disagree) to the seven statements.


RESULTS
Out of 500 responders, 59 (11.8 %) people answered none of the questions correctly. Fifty-six (11.2 %) answered one question correctly, 106 (21.2 %) answered two questions correctly, 85 (17 %) people disagreed with three myths, 88 (17.6 %) disagreed with four myths, 55 (11 %) people answered five questions correctly, and 34 (6.8 %) answered six questions correctly. Therefore, only 17 (3.4 %) people disagreed with all the seven myths.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, this cross-sectional study showed that myths of low back pain widely exist among Irish population studied . The level of education played an important role. The findings from this study suggest that public health information regarding low back pain is inadequate and has not affected attitudes to low back pain in an Irish population.
Spine Service, Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Galway University Hospitals, National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway, Newcastle road, Galway, Ireland. drsudarshan79@gmail.com.
Sudarshan
S
Munigangaiah
Department of Radiation Oncology, Galway University Hospitals, Newcastle road, Galway, Ireland.
Navya
N
Basavaraju
School of Public Health, Physiotherapy, and Population Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Dima Y
DY
Jadaan
Spine Service, Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Galway University Hospitals, National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway, Newcastle road, Galway, Ireland.
Aiden T
AT
Devitt
Spine Service, Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Galway University Hospitals, National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway, Newcastle road, Galway, Ireland.
John P
JP
McCabe
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009229:Mythology / Q000523:psychology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017678:Sex Distribution; D055815:Young Adult
Back pain; Deyo’s myths; Irish population; Low back pain