Article

The main aim was to examine the prevalence of neck, shoulder and upper back pain, and evaluate possible associations between such symptoms and physical activity, self-efficacy and relaxation ability in a sample of adolescents. The data come from a cross-sectional field study on 416 Norwegian second-year electrician, hairdresser, art/design and media students from 13 technical schools, 265 females and 151 males. The mean age was 17.5?years. Data was acquired from a questionnaire and clinical examination. More female than male students (28% vs. 15%) reported high pain complaint levels. Females were engaged in less physical activity and obtained lower self-efficacy scores, but demonstrated better relaxation ability than male students. In bivariate analyses, high self-efficacy scores were significantly associated with high levels of physical activity and poor relaxation ability among males. No significant associations were found in multivariate analyses between physical activity, self-efficacy or relaxation ability and pain symptoms in either males or females. Among males, a tendency of increasing pain odds ratios with increasing physical activity level was seen. Follow-up research on this cohort is needed to explore further differences between males and females, and identify factors associated with neck, shoulder or upper back pain among these adolescents.

Langue : ANGLAIS

Tiré à part : OUI