Health care professionals’ and low back pain patients’ beliefs about the vulnerability of the back

The aim of the study was to compare health care professionals’ (HCP) and low back pain (LBP) patients’ beliefs about the vulnerability of the back. A cross-sectional study was performed. HCP and LBP patients were asked to fill the Back-Pain Attitudes Questionnaire developed by Darlow et al. (2014). Together 267 questionnaires were obtained. Participants who had LBP during the survey or any previous LBP episodes were included in the study. Nine items from the questionnaire (1-6;9;12;14) regarding the vulnerability of the back were analyzed. In the current study, 210 surveys were valid. Participants’ mean age was 47.2 years (SD 13.4). Most participants were females (79.5% vs 20.5% males). In HCP group was 65 (31.0%) participants and in LBP patients’ group was 145 (69.0%) participants. From the analyzed items, a statistically significant difference between the groups (p=0.004) was found in one: ‘’It is easy to injure your back’’. More LBP patients (70.3%) than HCP (59,9%) agreed with this statement and more HCP (29.2%) than LBP patients (14,4%) did not agree with it. There were no statistically significant differences between HCP and LBP patients in other items (1-5;9;12;14) regarding attitudes and beliefs toward vulnerability of the back (questions related to strength of the back; bending; sitting; lifting; overuse). Both HCP and LBP patients had unhealthy attitudes and beliefs about vulnerability of the back regarding to the strength of the back; sitting; lifting; overuse. The only exception was thoughts about how easy it is to injure your back. As HCP have medical education, it was expected that they would have a more positive attitude towards the vulnerability of the back, but we did not find such a pattern. This finding suggests that both HCP and LBP patients do not have enough education about the vulnerability of the back.