Tengsl verkja og hreyfingar hjá íslenskum skólabörnum

Abstract

Tilgangur: Tíðni verkja hjá börnum og unglingum hefur aukist og talið er að hluta þess megi rekja til breyttra lifnaðarhátta. Tengsl milli verkja og hreyfingar hafa lítið verið rannsökuð hérlendis, en erlendis sýna rannsóknir að ráðlögð hreyfing geti dregið úr verkjum en of mikil hreyfing og hreyfingarleysi geti leitt til hærri tíðni verkja. Tilgangur rannsóknarinnar var að kanna hvort tengsl væru milli verkja og hreyfingar annars vegar og verkja og hreyfingarleysis hins vegar hjá íslenskum skólabörnum.Aðferð: Stuðst var við gögn úr könnuninni Heilsa og lífskjör skólanema frá 2009. Alls svöruðu 11.602 nemendur í 6., 8. og 10. bekk könnuninni og var svarhlutafallið 87% á landsvísu. Breyturnar sem notast var við voru; kyn, bekkjarárgangur, verkur (hversu oft í viku), hreyfing (létt/mikil) og hreyfingarleysi (kyrrseta í <2/>3 tíma).Niðurstöður: Börn sem stunduðu ráðlagða létta hreyfingu upplifðu síður verki en börn sem hreyfðu sig ekki. Hærra hlutfall var meðal barna sem upplifðu þrjár tegundir verkja á viku (15,3%) og hreyfðu sig ekki heldur en hjá börnum sem voru verkjalaus (6,7%). Svipað hlutfall var meðal barna sem hreyfðu sig mikið 2-3 sinnum í viku og upplifðu verki vikulega eða oftar (26-34%) og hjá börnum sem hreyfðu sig á hverjum degi (24-30%). Hærri tíðni var á verkjaupplifun barna sem sátu í þrjá tíma eða meira á dag en lítill munur var hversu margar tegundir verkja börn upplifðu eftir því hve lengi þau sátu. Fylgni milli hreyfingar/hreyfingarleysis og verkja var í öllum tilfellum veik en þó marktæk (p<0,001).Ályktun: Samkvæmt niðurstöðum má álykta að veik tengsl eru milli hreyfingar/hreyfingarleysis og verkja hjá börnum. Ráðlögð hreyfing virðist hafa jákvæð áhrif á verki hjá börnum og mikil hreyfing hefur ekki áhrif. Börn sem hreyfa sig lítið eða stunda mikla kyrrsetu upplifa frekar verki en önnur börn en það hefur ekki áhrif á fjölda verkja.Lykilorð: verkir, hreyfing, hreyfingarleysi, kyrrseta, börn, unglingar, HBSC

Purpose: Frequency of pain among children and adolescents has been growing and it´s thought to be partly attributed to changes in ways of life. The relationship between pain and physical activity hasn’t been studied much in Iceland but foreign studies show that recommended physical activity can decrease the experience of pain and too much activity/inactivity can lead to higher frequency of pain. The purpose of this study was to explore on one hand relationship between pain and physical activity and on the other hand pain and physical inactivity among Icelandic school children. Method: Data from the international survey Health Behaviour in School-aged Children from 2009 was used. The sample was 11.602 pupils in 6th, 8th and 10th grade and the response rate was 87% nationwide. The variables that were used were: sex, grade, pain (how often a week), physical activity (light/vigorous) and physical inactivity (sedentary for <2/>3 hours).Results: Children that did recommended exercise experienced less pain then those that didn’t. Higher percentage was among those who experienced three different kinds of pain a week (15,3%) and didn’t exercise than children with no pain (6,7%). The percentage among children that exercised vigorously 2-3 times per week and experienced pain weekly or more often was 26-34% and 24-30% among those that exercised vigorously daily. Significant higher percentage of experienced pain was among children that sat for three hours or more daily. Small, but statistical significant, difference was on how many types of pain the children experienced after how long they sat. Relationship between pain and physical activity/inactivity was week but significant (p<0,001). Conclusions: According to these results we can conclude that there is a weak link between physical activity/inactivity and pain among children. Recommended exercise seems to have good affect on pain among children and vigorous exercise doesn’t have affect. Children that are physically inactive experience pain rather than other children, but it doesn’t affect the number of pains they experience.Key words: pain, physical activity, physical inactivity, sedentary, children, adolescents, HBSC