SynthesisEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2011
The association between physical activity and neck and low back pain: a systematic review.
Synthesis in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 77 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
77 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 191 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Ergonomic Association between Shoulder, Neck/Head Disorders and Sedentary Activity: A Systematic Review.Journal of healthcare engineering · 2022Pooled it
- Sedentary behavior and neck pain in children and adolescents; a systematic review and meta-analysis.Health promotion perspectives · 2022Pooled it
- Physical activity and low back pain in children and adolescents: a systematic review.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2021Pooled it
- Prevalence of Self-Reported Work-Related Lower Back Pain and Its Associated Factors in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of environmental and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Physical activity participation and the risk of chronic diseases among South Asian adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2019Pooled it
- The association between physical activity and low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.Scientific reports · 2019Pooled it
- Physical risk factors for developing non-specific neck pain in office workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2017Pooled it
- Prevalence of Back Pain in Sports: A Systematic Review of the Literature.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2017Pooled it
- The perspectives of older women with chronic neck pain on perceived effects of qigong and exercise therapy on aging: a qualitative interview study.Clinical interventions in aging · 2014Trial
- Leisure-time physical activity and low back pain in Switzerland: results from the 2022 cross-sectional Swiss Health Survey.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Article
- Understanding the burden of chronic back pain: a spatial microsimulation of chronic back pain at small area level across England.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Defining and validating a multidimensional digital metric of health states in chronic back and leg pain.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- Gender Differences Between Disability, Quality of Life, and Sedentary Behavior in Individuals with Chronic Non-Specific Neck Pain.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Hospital-based clinical training and low back pain in nursing students: prevalence, risk factors, and implications for nursing care.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Linking physical activity to workers' low back pain, back health, and theory-based psychological variables: study protocol of the workHealth intensive longitudinal observational study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Lifestyle factors and determination of optimal cut-off values for forward head posture in young adults with neck pain: a cross-sectional analysis.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
- Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among Polish white-collar workers: the role of physical activity and risk factors.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Exploring musculoskeletal discomfort and school bag loads among Thai primary school students: a school-based cross-sectional survey.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The Impact of Physical Activity on Adolescent Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- The link between childhood physical activity enjoyment and adult kinesiophobia in individuals with chronic low back pain.BMC public health · 2024Article
17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The effect of physical activity on neck and low back pain is still controversial. No systematic review has been conducted on the association between daily physical activity and neck and low back pain. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between physical activity and the incidence/prevalence of neck and low back pain. Publications were systematically searched from 1980 to June 2009 in several databases. The following key words were used: neck pain, back pain, physical activity, leisure time activity, daily activity, everyday activity, lifestyle activity, sedentary, and physical inactivity. A hand search of relevant journals was also carried out. Relevant studies were retrieved and assessed for methodological quality by two independent reviewers. The strength of the evidence was based on methodological quality and consistency of the results. Seventeen studies were included in this review, of which 13 were rated as high-quality studies. Of high-quality studies, there was limited evidence for no association between physical activity and neck pain in workers and strong evidence for no association in school children. Conflicting evidence was found for the association between physical activity and low back pain in both general population and school children. Literature with respect to the effect of physical activity on neck and low back pain was too heterogeneous and more research is needed before any final conclusion can be reached.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.