TY - JOUR

T1 - Motor skills at 7 years of age and spinal pain at 11 years of age

T2 - a cohort study of 26,000 preadolescents

AU - Hestbaek, L.

AU - Kamper, S. J.

AU - Hartvigsen, J.

AU - Falch-Joergensen, A. C.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - This study aims to investigate the relationship between motor skills at age 7 and spinal pain at age 11. The study included participants from the Danish National Birth Cohort. Data on motor skills were obtained from the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire, completed by the mothers when the children were 7 years old, and spinal pain was self-reported at age 11 for frequency and intensity of neck, mid back, and low back pain. This was categorized into "no," "moderate," or "severe" pain, based on frequency and pain intensity. Associations were estimated using multinomial logistic regression models. Data on both motor skills and spinal pain was available for 25,000 children. There was a consistent pattern of reporting more neck or mid back pain at age 11 for those with lower levels of fine motor skills and coordination scores at age 11. The relationship was significant for severe pain (the highest relative risk ratio being 1.87 and the lowest 1.18), but not for moderate pain (the highest relative risk ratio being 1.22 and the lowest 1.07). Gross motor skills were not associated with spinal pain, and there was no relationship between low back pain and motor skills.Conclusion: Our results indicate a link between motor development at 7 years of age and neck and mid back pain, but not low back pain, at 11 years of age. Improvement of motor skills in young children might reduce the future burden of neck and mid back pain and should be a target of future research.

AB - This study aims to investigate the relationship between motor skills at age 7 and spinal pain at age 11. The study included participants from the Danish National Birth Cohort. Data on motor skills were obtained from the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire, completed by the mothers when the children were 7 years old, and spinal pain was self-reported at age 11 for frequency and intensity of neck, mid back, and low back pain. This was categorized into "no," "moderate," or "severe" pain, based on frequency and pain intensity. Associations were estimated using multinomial logistic regression models. Data on both motor skills and spinal pain was available for 25,000 children. There was a consistent pattern of reporting more neck or mid back pain at age 11 for those with lower levels of fine motor skills and coordination scores at age 11. The relationship was significant for severe pain (the highest relative risk ratio being 1.87 and the lowest 1.18), but not for moderate pain (the highest relative risk ratio being 1.22 and the lowest 1.07). Gross motor skills were not associated with spinal pain, and there was no relationship between low back pain and motor skills.Conclusion: Our results indicate a link between motor development at 7 years of age and neck and mid back pain, but not low back pain, at 11 years of age. Improvement of motor skills in young children might reduce the future burden of neck and mid back pain and should be a target of future research.

KW - Children

KW - Back pain

KW - Neck pain

KW - Motor skills

KW - Birth cohort

KW - LOW-BACK-PAIN

KW - DEVELOPMENTAL COORDINATION DISORDER

KW - FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT SKILLS

KW - PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY

KW - FOLLOW-UP

KW - PERFORMANCE

KW - ADOLESCENCE

KW - CHILDHOOD

KW - RISK

KW - QUESTIONNAIRE

U2 - 10.1007/s00431-023-04964-8

DO - 10.1007/s00431-023-04964-8

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37043072

SP - 2843

EP - 2853

JO - Acta Paediatrica Hungarica

JF - Acta Paediatrica Hungarica

SN - 0340-6199

ER -