Researchers found that the prevalence of low back pain in people with lower-limb amputations was higher than in the general population, but with similar levels of pain intensity and frequency. They also found that amputees with a sedentary lifestyle reported the highest percentage low back pain, leading them to conclude that new strategies to educate people with lower-limb amputations about physical activity are needed.
The research team distributed an online questionnaire with six sections: informed consent of the study, demographic information, comorbid conditions, history of lower-limb amputation, history of low back pain, and acceptance of the amputation.
Between March and June 2021, 239 participants completed the survey (mean age: 49.2; 11 percent female). From the results, low back pain among people with lower-limb amputations showed a prevalence of 82 percent post-amputation and 70 percent in the last year. A logistic regression with a backward method showed that participants who had problems in the unaffected leg had 1.58 times higher odds to have low back pain after the amputation.
The study, “Low back pain in people with lower limb amputation: A cross-sectional study,” was published in Spine.
