Chronic low back pain – its association with lumbar spinal canal diameter – a cross-sectional hospital-based study in a tertiary care hospital in North Bengal

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v13i6.43637

Keywords:

Low back pain, Lumbar canal diameter, Lumbar canal stenosis, Somatic symptom disorder, Visual analog scale pain score

Abstract

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a very common cause of disability in working age adults, lumbar canal stenosis (LCS) being one of the chief anatomical correlates. However, number of studies seeking role of LCS in the origin of LBP are not many, particularly in India.

Aims and Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate LBP and its relation to lumbar canal diameter (LCD), also to evaluate the impact of psychosomatic factors on LBP.

Materials and Methods: Eighty symptomatic (LBP) and 41 asymptomatic (without LBP) subjects were chosen and LCD for three lowest lumbar segments measured by 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging for both symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects was ascertained. Canal diameters of both groups were compared by Pearson’s Chi-square test. Pain intensity of patients was assessed using visual analog scale (VAS)-pain score. Using tests of normality and non-parametric test Spearman’s rank coefficient, correlation between VAS score (pain intensity) and lowest canal diameter of the cases was evaluated. To evaluate the role of psychosomatic factors in LBP, the number of subjects (LBP) with somatic symptoms disorder (SSD) score ≥8 was ascertained.

Results: The results were as follows: (1) Significant association between presence of LCS (diameter <10 mm) and LBP (P=0.015). (2) No significant correlation between intensity of LBP (VAS score) and LCD. (3) 13.75% of LBP patients had SSD (Male 8% and Female 23.33%).

Conclusion: LCS may be an important factor in the origin of LBP. More studies are needed in this regard and also seeking correlation between LBP and other anatomical factors. Psychosocial factors may play important role in the origin and maintenance of LBP.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Abstract
143
PDF
150

Downloads

Published

2022-06-01

How to Cite

Mandal, M., Chakraborty, D. P., Chattopadhyay, A., Sarmah, P., & Bera, N. K. (2022). Chronic low back pain – its association with lumbar spinal canal diameter – a cross-sectional hospital-based study in a tertiary care hospital in North Bengal. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences, 13(6), 158–162. https://doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v13i6.43637

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 6 (2022)

Section

Original Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Asian Journal of Medical Sciences

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The journal holds copyright and publishes the work under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC license that permits use, distribution and reprduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. The journal should be recognised as the original publisher of this work.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).