PREVALENCE OF LOWER BACK PAIN AMONG TAIBAH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS.

Background: Lower back pain is a common multifactorial disorder that could be of neurological, musculoskeletal or even psychiatric origin. It affects multiple age groups ranging from adolescent to the geriatric age group. Objectives: Our aim in this study is to determine the prevalence of lower back pain, assessing its impact on students' lives and detection of the most common risk factors of lower back pain among Taibah university students. Methodology: A cross sectional study was carried out. The study was conducted in Al-medainh city among Taibah university students at any level and any faculty. (i.e. the sampling selection method was random) with nearly sample size of 500. A specially designed self-administered questionnaire in Arabic was used. Results: Most of the respondents (82.35%) were between 21 to 25 years of age. Females responded more than males did (74.35%). Nearly half of the sample (41.2%) was comprised of medical students followed by students of applied medical science and science, respectively. Ninety-five students were in their third academic year. Lower back pain was significantly prevalent among Taibah University students as (56.47%) were complaining of it. Conclusion: The prevalence of lower back pain among Taibah university students was approximately higher compared to other similar studies with a percentage of (56.74%). The impact of lower back pain on the students though not major yet still lead to the absence of some of them from university and to the consumption of pain killers.