Does lower extremity pain precede spinal pain? A longitudinal study

The main objective was to investigate whether children aged 9–15 years at baseline were more likely to experience an incident event of spinal pain after experiencing lower extremity pain. Children’s musculoskeletal pain was monitored by weekly mobile phone text message responses from parents, indicating whether the child had spinal pain, lower extremity pain, or upper extremity pain the preceding week. Data were analyzed using mixed effect logistic regression models and cox regression models. The association between an incident event of spinal pain and LE pain the preceding weeks increased with increasing observation period and was statistically significant for 12 and 20 weeks (OR = 1.34 (95% CI 1.05 to 1.70) and OR = 1.39 (95% CI 1.11 to 1.75), respectively). We found that the likelihood increased in children with more frequent or longer duration of lower extremity pain. The reversed relationship was investigated as well, and we also found a positive association between spinal pain and a subsequent incidence event of lower extremity pain, but less pronounced. Conclusion: Children were more likely to experience an incident event of spinal pain after experiencing lower extremity pain. The likelihood increased in children with more frequent or longer duration of lower extremity pain. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00431-018-3235-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.